Rip-off

Yesterday (Friday, May 20, 2011) my car needed gas.
I figured there was enough to get to nearby Canandaigua, where I was running an errand anyway.
I’d use the Sunoco station on the main drag, where regular was $3.99.9 per gallon, the lowest I’ve seen.
I tell my financial-advisor my indicator of the viability of the economy is not the Dow-Jones; it’s the price of gas.
The price of gas was inflated by opportunists, but now that’s falling apart.
The economy is still weak, but the price of gas keeps slowly rising.
When I got to the Sunoco, the pumps I’d use were occupied, and doing so blocks the unoccupied pumps.
I thought I’d go around the block and come back on the main drag.
I turned onto the main drag, but the U-turn I’d need to come back was prohibited.
I’m not driving a Cadillac.
There is a Valero station across from the Sunoco.
It had a sign out front that said $3.95.9 per gallon cash price.
I’d use my credit-card, but figured they’d be the same price as the competition across the street.
But no.
$4.05.9 per gallon.
What a rip-off!
All because -a) the Sunoco pumps were occupied, and -b) I couldn’t do a U-turn on the main drag.
“But that sign says $3.95.9 per gallon,” my wife cried.
“That’s the cash price,” I said. “No indication of their credit-card price, which was way more than the competition across the street.
I try to pay attention to the price-per-gallon, but in this case Valero made out like bandits.
Their sign was a trap.

• “Canandaigua” (“cannan-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” It’s about 15 miles away. —We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield, southeast of Rochester.)