Sign-making puzzle

[QuikSand]

A company president has meeting, and talks with his sales representative. The company sells materials for signs -- large numbers and letters suitable for advertising and the like.

The sales rep says -- "in this one sector, we are seeing a really weird thing."

"We're used to having all our clients ask for the usual set of numbers... when they are starting up, they all want the same starter set, it's a standard package, we sell them all the time. People can also buy specific digits -- a guy breaks all his number eights, and he orders a few replacements, we see orders like that sometimes, too."

The boss nods.

"But this year," he continued, "...has been weird. This fiscal year, we have seen tons and tons of special orders... everybody seems to want to buy extras of the same digit. Orders of the complete set are basically the same, but we have had tons of special requests for the exact same digit -- more than all the other digits put together."



What is the "sector" the sales rep is referring to?
Which digit is suddenly in such high demand this year?

[Huckleberry]

Gasoline stations and the number 3?

[Toddzilla]

Software retailers and the number "2" for TCY?

[Barkeep49]

Gasoline stations and the number 3?
This would be my guess as well.

[Maple Leafs]

"0" for World Cup scoreboards?

[albionmoonlight]

Funny. My first instinct was/is gas stations, too.

[timmynausea]

6 for Churches.

[panerd]

"0" for the Kansas City Royal's new manual scoreboard.

[albionmoonlight]

I don't know if 3 really works though. I mean, they will probably one need one "3," and that would come in the standard set, right?

[gstelmack]

I don't know if 3 really works though. I mean, they will probably one need one "3," and that would come in the standard set, right?

Yeah, it's the "more than all other numbers combined" bit. Could still be, as a standard set of numbers might cover the last two digits, and 3 is just ordered more than any other as an extra, but not sure. Seems like the digit might need to be common in more than one place in the number.

I was mildly thinking of "1" with all the places in the country switching to 10-digit dialing, but you don't normally have to dial the one in those cases.

Maybe "9" for all the 99-cent value meals popping up at all the fast-food places?

[albionmoonlight]

dola:

Question (if we are at that point): When did "this fiscal year" begin? Did the order wierdness start pretty much on that day--or is "fiscal year" a more general term?

[Franklinnoble]

Zero.

[cuervo72]

5's, for Daivd's down markers.

[Qwikshot]

I would say zero.

[QuikSand]

Gasoline stations and the number 3?

While I applaud the creative answers... this is indeed what I had in mind. Probably too much giveaway in the setup, I guess.

Presumably, gas stations for years got a set of numbers that included a series of extra ones (for prices that top $1.00) and maybe even twos (in case prices go over $2.00)... and presumably a lot of mini nines (for prices that end in nine-tenths, the omnipresent industry standard). I'd expect other digits to be fairly evenly distributed.

Now that prices are regularly topping $3.00, I'd expect that many stations have a problem -- if they are postign prices for three or four different grades, they might have occasion to need six or eight or more threes at once - and could easily run out.

*shurg*


Not trying to out-enigma the enigma or anything... just thought I'd toss it out there.

[Passacaglia]

While I applaud the creative answers... this is indeed what I had in mind. Probably too much giveaway in the setup, I guess.

Presumably, gas stations for years got a set of numbers that included a series of extra ones (for prices that top $1.00) and maybe even twos (in case prices go over $2.00)... and presumably a lot of mini nines (for prices that end in nine-tenths, the omnipresent industry standard). I'd expect other digits to be fairly evenly distributed.

Now that prices are regularly topping $3.00, I'd expect that many stations have a problem -- if they are postign prices for three or four different grades, they might have occasion to need six or eight or more threes at once - and could easily run out.

*shurg*


Not trying to out-enigma the enigma or anything... just thought I'd toss it out there.

I always find it amusing when I see gas stations with signs that don't even have room for a dollars digit, or if they do, only have room for a 1, and as a result, end up listing something like 89 cents per gallon, when the price is actually $2.89 per gallon.