A series of firsts

It's August. I recognize that August means summer and not Christmas. However, on Thursday, I decorated a Christmas tree for the first time in my life.

It's been raining a lot lately. Apparently there are nine days of rain in August on average in Edmonton; this year we were at 13 days with rain by the 18th. However, on one of those non-rainy days, I went golfing for the first time in my life. We ended up at 9 over par, and I was the only person in my group to not lose a golf ball. I still think golf is a silly game. I suppose that as a commerce graduate that is heading into law I'm likely going to be condemned to a future that involves golf. But that doesn't make me want to accept it.

Advertised gas prices in Edmonton jumped over a 100 cents per litre. This is worthy of mention because most gas stations are only equipped to post prices that have two digits prior to the decimal place and as such are unable to post their prices as per usual (although some places, like Save-On-Foods gas bar, have just rounded up to the nearest penny instead). While many people are sad that the price of gas (and oil) is so high, and while I have no sympathy for the gas stations being inconvenienced in posting their prices, what strikes me as absurd is the fact that since gas stations are taking 3.5 cents (or more) off at the pump but are advertising the higher price anyway - why not just post the at-the-pump price on the sign. To me, posting the higher price just seems like bad business sense. First, I think that consumers are being unnecessarily patronized - there seems to exists an engrained psychological barrier to paying more dollars than you get litres, especially when 10 years ago, gas prices were 39.9. Second, what store in the world would advertise their prices as being higher than the actual price and think it's a smart idea? If you look at phone companies, they show the lowest rate plan and then nickel and dime customers with hidden fees, the last thing they would do is list the full cost to the customer, let alone a higher one. I suppose that gas stations felt that advertising a higher price with 3.5 cents off at the pump might seem like a better deal rather than just posting the actual price, however, even if mathematically 99.4 or 102.9 minus 3.5 are the same thing, I think that the former seems a lot less scary. So why don't gas stations just advertise the real at the pump price? It would make it easier for them to post their price, it makes better business sense, and it would make the advertised price more palatable to their customers.