Mar 30, 2010
The Daily Poverty Post
Welcome to Bossy’s Poverty Party, an online support group for reining in spending, getting your finances in order, and climbing out of debt. Everyone basically knows what steps to take, but it is nearly impossible to climb that mountain alone.
So every day nearly every day, Bossy will use this space to report her spending and missteps, along with cheap recipes, savings tips, and suggested tricks and goals.
So there stood Bossy the other day all innocent-like, preparing to pump her own gas and – you know the drill: remove the gas cap, swipe your credit card, select the grade of gasoline and — whoa!
They tried to trick Bossy by putting the grade of gasoline in a different order. For as long as Bossy can remember the grade of gasoline improved moving left to right, meaning it got more expensive.
And so just as Bossy was preparing to knock that left button for Regular, sister mercy, there was the Premium button to mess with the natural order of the universe.
Be aware, council! Keep those eyes open.
I have ran across that too,sneaky tactics to waste your money.
That is just underhanded, evil, and wrong.
Holy kittens, Phillytown! Regular gas is 2.67 where I live! Come buy gas in the Motor City!
Totally happened to me too Bossy! And I was explaining to my husband who thought I was a total idiot. “Who doesn’t pay attention while getting gas?” Me, that’s who! And now Bossy too, so beat that butthead!
Just filled up a day ago… $3.17/gallon for *REGULAR* gas.
Well that is just the crappiest thing I seen in a while! Wow. I think I might be compelled to write a nasty letter to the company just to vent!
I’ve almost done that too.
That happened to me, and as I was twiddling my thumbs while the gas pumped, I happened to notice. So I stopped and restarted fueling with regular.
This happens in Ohio too. I unfortunately didn’t notice it until I was halfway filled.
Tricky bastards!
Tennessee did this a few years ago! I unfortunately did not catch it in time. At least my car was happy?
be happy your gas isn’t $3.19 for regular. effin’ orange county…
Ours is 3.33 here in Alaska. Maybe if there was a huge pipeline going through the state, delivering gas directly to our front door locally it’d be cheaper…..wait a sec.
Yep, I’ve run across that too. And I agree with Middle-aged-woman: Compared to the rest of the folks commenting, gas is pretty cheap around the Big Mitten. I just paid about $2.80 on the west side of the state.
I thought it was just the station I was using; but apparently it’s a national thing. America’s morals are going down the tubes! Make that, “have gone.”
and have you noticed that the signs over the pumps are in the reverse order to the buttons below? evil. evil. evil.
We’re way behind the times here in Oregon. It’s against the law to pump your own gas. In fact, Oregonians think it’s downright patriotic to employ people to do this for minimum wage.
They think they’re so sly – those evil gas people. Thank you, Bossy, for coming to our rescue!!
Those tricky, tricky gas station attendants. Glad to have a smarty pants like you to warn me before I fill up my giant but almost empty truck.
I know, right? I hate that.
Bossy could do a tour of the country’s gas prices. Oh wait, she is. Well, she could tell us about the price comparisons. As if.
Beware too, Bossy, that not only do they reverse the order, but once you’ve gotten wise to that trick, some of them put the regular gas IN THE MIDDLE!!!! So if they don’t fool you on the premium expensive stuff, they’ll at least get you for a middle grade all the way on the right. Your magic number is 87, just follow that one and you’ll survive.
I’m gonna drive to Philly and buy me some premium gas … still cheaper than regular out here in SF.
that happened to me, too! i always glance to be sure it’s in the usual order…but this one tripped me up because it was totally mixed up: middle grade, THEN highest grade, THEN lowest grade. and because i just saw it going up for the first two, i stopped looking. stupid.
Hi Bossy,
Do you know if accepting “pre-approved” credit card offers improves your credit? I get them in the mail all the time and since my credit is so-so, I thought I could maybe open a pre-approved card but NOT use it… so it’s another line of credit that I have? But what if I am only approved for a really low amount, then that looks bad? Do you have to actively use a credit card for it to make a difference? Eep!
WOW, so cheap i am in Canada and we are paying $1.12 per litre, that works out to….. $4.48, for REGULAR. That is why we all go to the states to shop and fill up.
How I wish the gas prices now in January 2011 are the same as shown here!
The gas here in California is over $4.00
Remember when gas was ONLY $2.83 a gallon. Gah!