The Correct Price Was Posted on the Sign and in the Store Window

December 31 2007

An employee at the Trig’s Shell station in Minocqua, Wisconsin made a mistake in entering the gas price. The employee entered 32.9 cents per gallon instead of $3.299 per gallon. Trig’s closes its store at the station at 10 PM, but the gas pumps remain open all night for use by customers with credit cards.

The unexpected boon found a following very quickly. In the first hour and 45 minutes, 42 people bought gas, a total of 586 gallons. Police called the owner of the station when they discovered the horde at the station, with the pumps having two cars deep in line because so many had called friends and neighbors to come take advantage of the mispriced fuel.

Andrea Reuland, the manager, came to the store and pulled the emergency pump to stop the lines. Ms. Reuland said, “I was very upset that there’s that many dishonest people. They knew there was a problem, and they took advantage of an employee’s mistake and I think that’s terrible.”[1]

The correct price was posted on the sign and in the store window.

An online poll asked readers of the story whether they would have taken advantage of the mistake. From the initial 2700 respondents to the final 34,000, the number of respondents who said they would have taken advantage of the low price never moved from 86-87%. Only 13-14% said they would not have taken advantage of the mistake.

Discuss the law on unilateral mistake. Discuss the ethics of those who bought the gasoline.

[1] “Store Mistakenly Sells 33-Cent Gasoline,” AP wire story, December 8, 2007.