Ok, here is another one that I have wondered about for a while:

Why do most prices end with .99 or .95? Where did the odd pricing start and why? I know that people will say that things are priced that way because consumers will buy things thinking that $14.99 is less money than $15.00, but I think that I've heard that the odd pricing thing started with another intent. And whats with the 9/10th of a cent tagged on to gasoline prices? That's another one that pisses me off.

Edit:

here is one little bit of explaination that I found. It reads:

Odd-Even Pricing


Many products today are sold at prices with "odd" endings--that is, rather than selling something that $10.00, it is sold at $9.99. Interestingly, the practice was started not so much to deceive consumers, but rather to make sure that dishonest clerks would have to "ring up" a purchase in order to give change. One theory today is that consumers will conceive the $9.99 price as "nine dollars plus 'change'" rather than the effective $10.

Recent research has shown that odd price endings appear to have some modest effects under some circumstances--that is, consumers seem to be influenced a little bit, but not greatly. Interestingly, such effects could not be replicated in Germany, perhaps because of cultural differences.

Odd endings may have significant implications for the positioning of goods. Discount stores tend to use these endings, while upscale department stores often use whole dollar amounts as a sign of quality. While inflation has undoubtedly changed the figures involved, reseach done in the 1980s suggested odd prices were more effective below $7.00, where people often wanted to feel they got a bargain, while diners who paid more than that amount seemed to prefer the assurance of quality implied by a whole figure.