The last few times I have filled up our crappy minivan Goldschläger, I noticed something that I can’t easily verify, but something I nevertheless firmly believe is happening.

It struck me that even though the volume of the $20.00 worth of gasoline I was pumping into the tank was significantly less than the amount of gas I would have gotten in return for $20.00 in the $1.50/gallon glory days, it still took roughly the same amount of time to dispense it.

What’s the explanation of this? Why should it take as much time to dispense 6.25 gallons today as it did to dispense 13 gallons a couple years ago?

I think there’s a simple answer. The gas stations are intentionally slowing down the flow of gasoline. For those people who have used a “Pay First” pump, you know that when it gets to the last dollar of your pre-paid gasoline, that the flow of gas slows to a trickle (presumably so you won’t be able to overshoot the amount of gas you paid for). So, we know the technology is there to control the flow of gas.

So, why would they be slowing the gas flow in general? Well, to prevent customers from getting angry. If you filled up your car with twenty dollars worth of gasoline and it took less than a minute to get the gas into your tank, the ri-goddamn-diculous amount of money you’re paying for your fuel becomes baldly apparent.

By stretching out the measly amount of gasoline flowing into automobiles, the appearance is given to consumers that they are actually getting something for their dollar.

So, they waste your time to prevent you from realizing you are wasting your money.

Think about this the next time you wait for your gas tank to slowly fill up with that $3.50 premium unleaded.