Leap Day Means Discounts on Gas, Donuts, Fast Food and Other Treats in the High Desert
Several High Desert businesses will celebrate Leap Day by offering discounts and freebies on things like gas, donuts and fast food.
At select Circle K locations, customers will receive 40 cents off per gallon of fuel from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 29.
The price at the pump during the “Fuel Day Pop-up” will display the discounted price during the special day, which includes 50% off car washes all day.
“We’re on a mission to make our customers’ lives a little easier every day, and 2024 gives us another day to do just that,” said George Wilkins, Circle K’s vice president of West Coast operations. “We value each of our customers and are very proud to offer them opportunities like these to enjoy great savings on the go. »
High Desert residents can find the nearest participating Circle K locations by visiting the store locator on CircleK.com.
Not all franchisees participate in their national chain’s leap day programs. Be sure to contact your nearest facility to ensure they are participating.
Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme is offering customers a dozen Original Glazed Donuts for $2.29 with the purchase of a dozen at regular price on Thursday.
Additionally, customers celebrating a birthday on February 29 can receive a free dozen Original Glazed Donuts, with no purchase necessary. Proof of birthday is required.
Chipotle
Chipotle is offering its Rewards members a free side of “guac,” or guacamole, on Leap Day for orders placed online or through the app.
Wendy’s
Breakfast customers at Wendy’s can get free pickup at Cinnabon while supplies last on Leap Day. Customers can get one order per vehicle at the drive-thru or one per transaction in the dining room.
Staples
Staples is distributing 29,000 passport photos nationwide on Thursday in honor of Leap Day.
Plus, it offers 29x more points on select travel and office essentials with the new Staples Easy Rewards program.
Starbucks
Some Starbucks Rewards accounts show a buy-one-get-one-free craft drink deal on Leap Day. Not everyone will benefit from these deals, but those who do have until March 3 to use the in-app coupon.
Why a leap year?
Leap Day exists every four years to ensure that our calendars align with Earth’s orbit, which ensures that our calendar aligns with our seasons.
It takes Earth approximately 365.2422 days to orbit the sun, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The exact duration of the orbit is 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 56 seconds.
Four years of this time we have saved is roughly equivalent to a full day, and therefore a leap day is added to the calendar.
Why February 29?
The choice of February as a leap year and the addition of an extra day dates back to reforms to the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar, who was inspired by the Egyptian solar calendar, according to History.com.
The Roman calendar at that time was based on a lunar system and had a year of 355 days, which was shorter than the solar year. This discrepancy has caused the calendar to become out of sync with the seasons over time.
To solve this problem, Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar, a solar calendar, which included a leap year system.
When the Julian calendar was later transformed into the Gregorian calendar in 1582, the tradition of adding a leap day to the month of February persisted.
Babies born on leap day
“Leapers,” those born on February 29, automatically become members of an exclusive club called the “Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies.”
The group has over 11,000 members connecting jumpers around the world.
Skip a leap year
Sometimes we skip what is supposed to be a leap year for the same reason we have them in the first place.
Adding a leap day every four years ends up making our calendar 44 minutes too long, which can also throw off our seasons and calendar.
As a result, we skip leap years, even though we do so at intervals much longer than four years.
Years divisible by 100 but not by 400 are skipped, meaning we’ve skipped leap years in 1700, 1800 and 1900 but not 2000. The next leap year we’ll skip is far away, in 2100.
USA Today contributed to this story.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz can be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Leap day means discounts on gas, donuts, fast food and other treats.
