Don Boudreaux reminisces about price controls on gasoline and having to wait in line for twelve hours just to purchase some back in 1979.
I worked at a gas station in high school at that time. I, too, remember those days well.
First, it was not uncommon for someone to pull up to the pump after waiting in line for three or more hours to say, "Fill it up." After about ten to fifteen seconds, the pump would stop - it was filled.
"It didn't even take a gallon." I would say.
A typical reply was, "Oh, I know. I wanted to fill it up today because I knew I couldn't get gas tomorrow and didn't want to run out."
In a stroke of genius, President Jimmy Carter signed into law that, in order to allocate gasoline more efficiently, you could buy gas on odd numbered days only if the last digit of your license plate was an odd number, and on even numbered days if it was an even number. People responded accordingly.
Also, being partial to females, it was also not uncommon to either turn the pumps back on for an attractive female (Come on, I was a teenager.) or to extend the time we were open in order to permit an attractive female to get gas. It's called allocation by seller preferences.