Prices May Go Up (and then Back Down)
I caught something in an article on the best days to buy things linked from Lifehacker (which I'm loving more and more) I read a quick bit about buying gas (that's petrol to us Brits):
Gas
When to Buy: Thursday, before 10 a.m.
Why: The price of oil isn't the only factor influencing costs at your local pump. Consumer usage plays a role, too — and weekend demand is high, says Jason Toews, co-founder of GasBuddy.com, a price-monitoring site. Prices usually swing upward on Thursdays as travelers fuel up to head out the following day. By hitting the pump before 10 a.m. (when many station owners change their prices), you'll beat the rush and the price jump.
I saw this phenomenon first hand in Canada when I was travelling and couldn't believe it. How can you change prices due to demand over weekends? We certainly don't do that here, I wonder if that's:
- a) because the Brits wouldn't stand for such blatant profiteering
- b) the spend on fuel doesn't increase significantly on the weekend
- c) our forecourt managers are too lazy
I'm thinking it's A. It's almost as alien to us as those crazy Dutch charging more for cinema tickets to long movies.