Below are the contents of a letter that I will be sending to Governor Chris Christie this coming Monday morning. Enjoy.
Anthony Bachich
432 Markle Street
Philadelphia, PA 19128
6/16/2012
Christopher Christie
Governor of New Jersey
Office of the Governor
PO Box 001
Trenton, NJ 06825
Dear Governor Christie:
I am writing to inform you and the state of New Jersey that I am entitled to the amount of $9,322.40, and expect to receive payment within the next 30 days. A check can be mailed to the address listed in the header above.
I am currently a citizen of Philadelphia, PA, but travel to Basking Ridge, NJ twice per week for work. While in New Jersey, I generally take advantage of the lower gas prices, and fill my tank approximately 3 times every two weeks. However, The Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act of 1949 prohibits me from pumping gas myself. This has led to a longer gasoline purchasing transaction time from pull in to drive out, which averages approximately four additional minutes per visit compared to the average gasoline purchasing transaction time I have experienced in Pennsylvania, and other self-pumping states. As I am sure you are aware, Governor Christie, time has an associated monetary value. I have concluded, and will be happy to provide you with an appendix if requested, that my time is currently valued at $0.56 per minute. This means that every time I fill my gas tank in the state of New Jersey, I am losing $2.24 as a direct result of The Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act of 1949. I do realize that on average gas has been close to $0.16 cheaper in New Jersey than in Philadelphia over the past several years as noted by a 2012 GasBuddy.com historical price chart. I generally use 12 gallons of gas when filling up, which means I am saving a total of $1.92 every time I choose to purchase gasoline in New Jersey compared to Pennsylvania. However, this still results in a net loss of $0.32 per fill up. As previously noted, I fill my tank approximately 78 times per year, which is resulting in a $24.96 loss over the previous year.
Using the same calculations for the previous six years since I have been living in either New Jersey or Pennsylvania, I have concluded that I am owed an additional $364.04. This includes a lower value of time per minute as my wagers were less, but it also excludes the price difference between Pennsylvania and New Jersey gas prices in years where my primary residences was in New Jersey. This was excluded as it would not make logical sense to drive further for higher prices. This brings the total to $390 over the past seven years.
The additional compensation I am demanding is for future lost wages which will result from the continuation of the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act of 1949. I have recently received my MBA from the Fox School of Business at Temple University, which has, as a result, increased my earning potential, thus increasing my value of time per minute. Therefore, each additional minute I spend at the pump as a result of the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act of 1949 is costing me more money. I have extrapolated my value of time per minute through the age of 65, in the hope that I will, at that point, be able to retire. I have used an average value per minute of $1.36 for the next 35 years and assumed a similar difference in between gas prices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This results in a net loss of $8,954.40 which I deserve compensation for, and brings the final total of what the state of New Jersey owes me to $9,344.40.
While $9,334.40 is a small amount of capital for the state of New Jersey, the time wasted at the pump also has a certain opportunity cost. To use yourself as an example, Governor Christie, every time you have to pull into a gas station and wait an additional four minutes to have your gas pumped, you are wasting valuable time that could be spent on other important activities pertinent to the well being of the state of New Jersey. I believe it is safe to assume that you, on average, travel much more than I do to fulfill your occupational duties. In addition, I can not even imagine how much additional time must be wasted waiting to re-fuel a helicopter to travel back and forth from your children's little league games. Clearly the minutes wasted by the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act of 1949 hinder your opportunity cost more than any resident of the state. If you spend twice as much time at the pump as I do in a given year, which I believe is a fair assumption, then you are wasting over ten hours per year waiting for your gas to be pumped for you. In that amount of time it would be easy for you to close at least two public schools and lay-off dozens of teachers to help cut the New Jersey budget, hence making room for tax breaks for your noble constituents, in turn aiding your re-relection. It seems foolhardy to allow the money hungry teachers' union to continue their stranglehold of the state budget when there are wealthy state residents in need of tax breaks. By allowing the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act of 1949 to continue you are encouraging the socialist doctrine of public education and tax payor equality, something your most avid supporters would surely disapprove of.
If these previous two examples have not persuaded you to reconsider the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act of 1949, then perhaps my final, more simplistic example will help convince you. Both you and I are very attune to matters of business, but I am sure you, like myself, also enjoy those occasions on which we are able to spend our free time doing what we love. As I had previously mentioned, the amount of time wasted at the pump for yourself over the course of a single year is likely over ten hours. In this amount of time, Governor Christie, you could eat an additional 40 Wendy's Baconators (R) each year. This is assuming a 15 minute time on average from entering the drive through, purchasing, and consuming said Baconator (R). I did not take into account that you might bring the Bacondator (R) to a third party location for consumption. I understand you are a busy man, so I assumed the Baconator (R) would be consumed while in the vehicle, while it is in park of course. Over the entirety of your four year term, that is 40 pounds of fresh, never frozen beef, 640 pieces of Applewood Smoked Bacon, 320 slices of american cheese, and about a tub of mayonnaise and ketchup each that you are missing out on. Please Governor Christie, the next time you consider the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act of 1949, just think of the delicious Baconators (R) you are cheating yourself out of.
I am happy to say that if you do decide to repeal this unjust law, I would immediately retract my demand for all previously lost compensation. However, if this has not persuaded you otherwise, I will be expecting my check within the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
Anthony Bachich
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| Math! (not included in my letter) |
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