NationStates Jolt Archive

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

It's not a conspiracy. Rich people can pay more.

It's not a conspiracy. Rich people can pay more.

Troll.

Upper-scale neighborhoods tend to pay more for things. Sometimes for an increase in quality of the item, sometimes just because whoever owns the store realizes that he can rip you off and you won't say anything. -shrug-

It's Obama's fault.-.-

Same thing over here in AZ.

Towards the center of town, gas prices rise hugely. Its almost 3.50 in the center of town...sometimes higher.
The further out you go (generally) the lower the price gets. Some places its almost 3.00 even, now. I've seen stations ranging from 3.35 to 3.15 only a mile or two apart.
Its probably a conspiracy. I blame the Jews.

EDIT:
And, in one case, I saw a station selling gas for 3.28 directly across the street from a station selling it for 3.19. Go figure.

Upper-scale neighborhoods tend to pay more for things. Sometimes for an increase in quality of the item, sometimes just because whoever owns the store realizes that he can rip you off and you won't say anything. -shrug-

Really? I noticed, when I was living in the ghetto, that things actually cost more there. This was, I surmised, because the people living there were pretty much a captive audience. They either could not get to places where things cost less or, if they tried to, were made to feel "unwelcome" by the monied elite. I now live in the more-or-less "upscale" (read solidly upper-middle class) part of town and notice that gas and groceries cost less than they do in the less well-off areas.

Ruffy, I wouldn't try to understand. Even the intellectual economists can't understand it.

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.
Have you ever wondered why land costs more in Chestnut Hill than in the ghetto?

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

Well, Ruffy, which chain supplies the petrol? Where I live, there is a chain of petrol companies that are always cheaper than their competition by one or two cents a litre; so that could be one explanation.

Furthermore, you do get competition within suburbs from time to time with petrol; I remember about ten years ago, in the Howick/Pakuranga part of Auckland, petrol was five cents a litre cheaper than in other parts of Auckland - at Pakuranga Mobil, you would pay 75 cents a litre; at Panmure Mobil (ten minutes away), you would pay 80 cents a litre.

I hope that Ruffy now understands.

I blame the Jews.

I blame the ebil Moslems.

black people just steal the gas anyway so its more a suggestion

now what I really don't get is why do atms give you the card before the money? is this some sort of prank on my damaged mind

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

In preparation for the black seizure of power under Obama, the ghettoes have introduced a new currency, the ghetto dollar. Due to the economic crisis, the standard dollar has decreased in worth, meaning that the equivalent real price outside the ghettoes appears higher.

hmm.. white high rich kid wandering about in the ghettos at 4am...

And you are worried about THE PRICE OF PETROL!

Actually, I've noticed the opposite in NYC. In affluent neighborhoods, things are priced less -- presumably because someone cheesed off at the prices can go pffft! I ain't paying that! jump in their car and head to where the bargains are.

It's in the bad neighborhoods where people are less mobile because of lack of personal transport and the inconvenience of having to take long rides on mass transit that prices are high -- because they're the only game in town.

Upper-scale neighborhoods tend to pay more for things. Sometimes for an increase in quality of the item, sometimes just because whoever owns the store realizes that he can rip you off and you won't say anything. -shrug-
Or the overhead for the rent in a more desirable neighborhood costs more than a hole in the wall?

Things cost more in the bad neighborhoods of NYC because operating expenses are far higher.

its a liberal conspiracy to encourage race mixing.

*shudder*

I could say that it's all my doing, but that would be a lie.

Price differentiation.

It´s all conspiracy to make Ruffy´s life miserable and more confusing than apparently it already is. *nod*

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

They don't like you. :)

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

The gas station in Chestnut Hill is counting on its customers preferring convenience over price.

That, or what appears to be a plain ordinary ghetto is actually an Illuminati ghetto.

(Given two equally reasonable explanations, I always go with the one that includes the Illuminati.)

I blame the Chinese

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

Let's see. What type of cars do the rich of Chestnut Hill drive? I would guess they are nearly all new, with state of the art computer controlled fuel feeds etc.
Now what about the ghetto. Either pimp mobiles or some battered old relic. In either case they are not particularly sensitive to the quality of the fuel.

Now let us take a brief trip way down south - to Brazil. There you will see that they discovered that you could cut gasoline with ethanol and unless the engine was highly strung, a car would keep on running anyway.

So, given that ethanol is much cheaper then gasoline, it would appear obvious that either the gas station in the ghetto is being run by a samba school from Rio, that is using it to launder money obtained from the illegal sale of soccer players to European clubs, or that the quality of the gasoline is reduced by being cut with ethanol (and or water).

Take your choice.

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

This might be what started the market crash. If there is no Dunkin Donuts in Chestnut Hill, this could become a problem for investors that live in that area. They drive to the ghetto at 3AM (before Ruffy gets there and eats all the good donuts) and become confused by the $3.15 gas price then make the wrong investments when they get back home.

So that's all they need to do then. Just build a 700 billion dollar Dunkin Donuts in Chestnit Hill.
:D

Really? I noticed, when I was living in the ghetto, that things actually cost more there. This was, I surmised, because the people living there were pretty much a captive audience. They either could not get to places where things cost less or, if they tried to, were made to feel "unwelcome" by the monied elite. I now live in the more-or-less "upscale" (read solidly upper-middle class) part of town and notice that gas and groceries cost less than they do in the less well-off areas.

Ruffy, I wouldn't try to understand. Even the intellectual economists can't understand it.

That's what I've noticed, too. It shouldn't matter with gas, though, because the only people buying gas are the ones who have a means of moving around. With this in mind, I offer the following economic theory:

Despite what Ruffy says, the gas is not really $3.15 but a rounding of $3.14159265..., or $π, pi. This reflects the ancient Kabbalistic and alchemistic beliefs surrounding petroleum. The word itself actually comes from the word "pi-troll-um," "pi" referring to both its global abundance (the equator, or circumference of the earth) and depth in the ground (all the way to what seemed like the ancients the antipodes, or diameter); "troll" coming from the Norwegian tradition of the foul-smelling creatures who were related to rocks, and "um" to its mysterious make-up, as "um" was what professors would offer answer when asked by their medieval students what it was.

That explains why it's $3.15 in the ghetto. Why then, you may ask, does it cost $3.45 in the more upscale neighborhood? The answer depends on the type of people who live there. The upper-class live orderly lives and like to think of themselves as rational. "345," with its even, numerical ascent, seems more orderly than pi, which by definition is irrational. The upper-class also tend to have more money, and the gas station owners can add $0.30 without going out of business. In fact, they would probably do worse if they lowered the price to the original natural price of $3.15, as that would remind the supposed elite of primeval forces and supernatural occurrences unexplained by their university education.

From what I've noticed in Southeast Michigan, gasoline stations that are more convenient (ones that are literally a hop, skip, and a jump off of the exit ramp of the freeway) tend to be slightly more expensive. It's the ones that are a few miles down the road, turn right, make a left, then another right, that are the great deals that you can find. When gas prices dropped to around 3.15, there were a few of those gas stations that fell down to 2.99 a gallon. I haven't had to get gas since (though I will tomorrow :(), but at this point, gas prices continue to fall, so it's probably best to wait as long as you can to get it.

That's what I've noticed, too. It shouldn't matter with gas, though, because the only people buying gas are the ones who have a means of moving around. With this in mind, I offer the following economic theory:

Despite what Ruffy says, the gas is not really $3.15 but a rounding of $3.14159265..., or $π, pi. This reflects the ancient Kabbalistic and alchemistic beliefs surrounding petroleum. The word itself actually comes from the word "pi-troll-um," "pi" referring to both its global abundance (the equator, or circumference of the earth) and depth in the ground (all the way to what seemed like the ancients the antipodes, or diameter); "troll" coming from the Norwegian tradition of the foul-smelling creatures who were related to rocks, and "um" to its mysterious make-up, as "um" was what professors would offer answer when asked by their medieval students what it was.

That explains why it's $3.15 in the ghetto. Why then, you may ask, does it cost $3.45 in the more upscale neighborhood? The answer depends on the type of people who live there. The upper-class live orderly lives and like to think of themselves as rational. "345," with its even, numerical ascent, seems more orderly than pi, which by definition is irrational. The upper-class also tend to have more money, and the gas station owners can add $0.30 without going out of business. In fact, they would probably do worse if they lowered the price to the original natural price of $3.15, as that would remind the supposed elite of primeval forces and supernatural occurrences unexplained by their university education.

:hail::hail::hail: That was the best explanation for anything I have ever read.

It could also have a lot to do with when your station's got it's last shipment.

If you're running on the new, $80/barrel oil, it's going to be cheaper than a station still burning the last of the $90/barrel oil?

Either that, or it's a plot to get you to stop in the ghetto, at which point you'll be robbed be someone who looks like Freeway, who will then split the profit from your robbery with the gas station owner thus allowing them to recoup from the artifically low price.

:hail::hail::hail: That was the best explanation for anything I have ever read.

Science doesn't lie. I, on the other hand...

Science doesn't lie. I, on the other hand...

Yes, we all know you're an awful person who uses elaborate tales to baffle our brains from the real truth, which is that we are simply the little play things of a stupid child who is stupid. :p

Yes, we all know you're an awful person who uses elaborate tales to baffle our brains from the real truth, which is that we are simply the little play things of a stupid child who is stupid. :p

Nonsense. Everything I say is true, even the stuff which doesn't perfectly correlate with reality.

Yes, we all know you're an awful person who uses elaborate tales to baffle our brains from the real truth, which is that we are simply the little play things of a stupid child who is stupid. :p

I think of myself more as scatterbrained than stupid. :p

Nonsense. Everything I say is true, even the stuff which doesn't perfectly correlate with reality.

I.e., even when you're wrong, you're right.

I blame those darn commies.

Gas prices are higher there where the demand is higher or where the price doesn't really matter.

City centers have many commuters and business traffic which might demand gasoline now and not 30 minutes away from a suburbia station, which on the other hand compete for customers by having a lower gas price in effort to minimize the impact of remote location.

In rich neighbourhoods the higher gas price might translate to better premises, groomed workforce and illusion of higher quality - Or the price is higher because people are capable of paying that wee bit extra for comfort.

now what I really don't get is why do atms give you the card before the money? is this some sort of prank on my damaged mind
This way you don't forget the card so easily. If you got the money first then you would be more prone to leaving the card because you already accomplished your task of withdrawing money.

On the other hand taking the card and leaving the money is much harder to do. :tongue:

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

Zoom in and see prices on various grades and types of fuel as reported within the last 24-48 hours. Damned handy. Also shows oddities like 30 cents difference within a mile.

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

1. The gas stations don't pick the price by themselves, it depends on the oil companies, who base their prices on global averages, but while the Hess station may charge a lot less than the Mobile station across the street, the price gab won't close because there are enough Mobile stations making good money at that price that that particular station is screwed.

2. When a gas station gets a delivery of expensive gas the price will stay high until they get a new shipment of low price gas. So if Mobile fills up their tanks with $4.00 gas, then Hess sells the last of its $4.00 gas and gets a delivery of $3.00 gas, Hess will undercut Mobile until Mobile sells off the $4.00 gas.

3. I don't know how this applies to those particular stations, but depending on location, the side of the street can make a difference in demand for gas. If one side of the highway is more traveled than the other during peak hours, they can charge more because it would take a big price difference to make people drive around to the other side of the highway.

In my town, groceries, gas and stuff are usually higher-priced in the poor neighborhoods.
Like others said, this is probably because the population there doesn't have the easy option to go shop somewhere else.
They also have a lot more of those "Checks Cashed While U Wait" type places...

In my town, groceries, gas and stuff are usually higher-priced in the poor neighborhoods.
Like others said, this is probably because the population there doesn't have the easy option to go shop somewhere else.
They also have a lot more of those "Checks Cashed While U Wait" type places...

And liquor stores. Which is probably the REAL reason Ruffy was stumbling through the ghetto. Don't buy his innocent "stoner on a quest for Dunkin Donuts" lies.

Looking for some under the counter moonshine, eh?

Ruffy lives in the ubermoney area of Chestnut Hill. Ruffy gets high and goes to Dunkin' Donuts at 4am in the ghetto. Ruffy notices that gas is $3.45 in Chestnut Hill, and $3.15 in the ghetto, just minutes away. Ruffy doesn't understand.

Help Ruffy understand.

Conspiracy theories encouraged.

On a somewhat related note...Safeway has lower prices in high income neighbourhoods, most likely because people in those areas have higher mobility and can shop around. In lower income, less mobile neighbourhoods, their prices are higher.

Bastards.

I blame the ebil Moslems.
Well, if we're talking conspiracies might as well include P2, Jews for Jesus, the Hare Krishnas and Opus Dei.

The government subsidises poor peoples' fuel, so that they travel to richer areas and work themselves to the bone and die meaninglessly in an attempt to make themselves rich, staying out of politics.

Yes.

I blame those darn commies.
Uhm, yeah ....
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/560719.html
I study the creation and impact of the Luciferian Marxist-Leninist Dialectical Sovietism that is the most encompassing secular historical force controlling every incorporated political party" ... "Law Merchant advisory panels masquerading as 'juries'; bar associations composed strictly of card carrying Kommunist Komrade Kriminals acting in Alaska under the Alaska Supreme Soviet in conjunction with Soviet counterparts ...
Fuckin' loony. That must've been what Palin really meant. :rolleyes:

The price of a 6" veggie sub at subway near my house (or generally downtown) is $3.35 after tax. The price of a 6"veggie sub near my school's campus is $4.15.

It's not bad enough that the food places on campus jack up their prices to rip off students, the ones off campus but within walking distance do too (sometimes). Although this isn't as bad with the local chains as with the big ones.

Basically people charge what they can get away with and most of the undergrads here come from money and their parents pay for everything anyways so they don't care how much food costs. Us poor underpaid grad students wind up being on campus more hours (except the undergrads who live on campus) and bringing two meals everyday is usually hard to do.

I also suspect that the undergraduate population and the fact that they have basically unlimited cash explains the fact that some of the stores in the nearby mall stock fewer cheap items than the mall at the other end of the city does.