When I was selling books at conventions, I was always having people come up to my table on the last day of the convention and try to get me to give them a discount “so you don’t have to pack it up and take it home”.
Response: I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t place that burden on you. In fact since I have to load up anyway, why don’t you give me your books.
To be fair when I visited the US and made my first purchase alone I was shocked when the price jumped at the cash desk and was about to argue with the cashier before the person I was staying with said it was a sales tax and this happens for any purchase.
However given that I’m from Britain and we have a law that states very specifically that the price listed on a product in a shop is the price that must be charged (even if that price is incorrect) I put this down as an understandable culture barrier.
Some?
Depends on the industry, but I have no doubt that vast amounts of revenue goes unreported with cash transactions. If you’re the owner of a small business, it’s pretty easy to see how you can take that cash payment, put it in your pocket, and nobody anywhere will be able to prove you didn’t report it.
Trust me, I said that with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Hey, that would make an interesting smiley!
Wisconsin does too. Stores display the before tax price which is what they are getting, and taxes are being collected after the total for the government. Considering that different stores in the same chain are collecting all the different taxes for their location, posting an after tax price won’t happen.
Here is a new rant for my current job: whoever just sprayed perfume or cleanser or whatever that smells like wet grass clippings and cherry cough syrup had better not let me find out who they are or I am going to hold them down and scrub them clean with Comet and a brillo pad!
So if she thinks about it long enough, she’ll declare war? 
I probably mentioned this already but when I was working in a grocery store there was this one guy who tried to pick a fight with me because I elbowed him while picking up a customer’s groceries out of a cart. As if I was supposed to know Mr. Asshole was behind me. :rolleyes:
No, it’s Outlaw Josey Wales. I knew it when I wrote it, it just came to mind.
Stores used to do this, then people would find pricing guns sitting while the clerk using them wandered away and get creative with prices, or they’d take the tags off one item and put them on another (“A buck ninety nine for an air conditioner? Who do you think you’re kidding?”) and stores had to wise up.
Nowaways almost everything, with the exception of small stores, is done by scanning the UPC and getting the price off the computer. If the price given is obviously wrong (like the mythical ac unit), then they’ll look at what the machine thinks it’s ringing up. Stealing this way is a lot harder and a lot less common.
By gum, you are right. I coulda sworn…
Mum stopped us buying sweets from the bins over two decades ago for that reason
This is easy to do in places that have a single unified tax, such as the UK VAT, but more difficult in places like Canada, where we have both a federal sales tax (GST) and (for most provinces) a provincial sale tax, which may be separate or combined with the federal tax, and has different rates and different included/exempt items from province to province. This makes it difficult or impossible to advertise a “tax included” price on a national or regional basis for wide-spread chains, and means that localized dealers need to price on a pre-tax basis as well to be comparable with chain dealers.
For the US, with state, county, municipal, dog catcher containment basin, and who knows what other levels of sales taxes, all at different rates, it’s totally impossible.
You get used to it A common pitch for advertising special sales is to say “We pay the taxes!!!” “No GST! No PST!!!” or something similar, which essentially just means that the advertised/ticketed prices are tax included (the dealer is legally required to collect and remit the sales tax - they’re not legally required to tack it onto the ticketed price as an extra at the cash). This gives the consumer the warm feeling that they’re not only saving money, they’re also sticking it to the Man!
In Illinois, the sales tax on a 50 cent package of Donettes (tiny powdered donuts) is 1 cent. The sales tax on a 99 cent bag of Doritos is 1 cent. The sales tax on a 99 cent cookie is 1 cent.
The sales tax on one 79 cent bottle of Walgreens soda is 6 cents. If you buy two of them and get them for our “two-fer a dollar” price, the sales tax on your $1 worth of pop is a whopping 8 cents. Gives a lot of little kids a nasty surprise, I can tell you, as they hand me their crumpled dollar bill and I have to tell them they’re eight whole cents short. A penny, they can cadge a penny from the next person in line, but 8 cents, no way.
I always figured it was a “sin tax” of some kind, but blessed if I know how come TPTB think donuts, cookies, and Doritos are less sinful than pop.
Strictly speaking, this is not what the law says, although this is usually its effect. It is a criminal offence in England and Wales to give a “misleading price indication” in relation to any goods or services. The store’s owner/manager could receive up to a £5000 fine on conviction, so in most cases when a item is wrongly priced, the shop will just honour it.
They don’t have to though. They can remove the item from sale. They can say, “I’m very sorry, but it’s a mistake and that widget is actually £199.99, not £1.99”. The customer has to reasonably rely on the price given, so this avoids the problems Chimera mentioned.
Well, I’ve never heard that most transsexuals tend to be unhappy…it did come off as a little condesending to me, but whatever. The OP sounds kind of unhappy, too, for what it’s worth.
We had a slow day at the candy store today. So, because we are paid to work and not sit on our collective asses we were cleaning and re-stocking the store between the rare customer. Today’s rants:
What’s with these fucking wrappers everywhere? - We actually have a pretty generous free-sample policy at work. We set out little trays of samples. If you’re undecided about an item we will, for most items (only a few very expensive exceptions) offer you a piece to try. (We also offer paper towels for you to spit it out if you really hate it) For the U-Pik bins, which are all wrapped and mostly hard candy, if someone is hemming and hawing over something we usually say “go ahead and try a piece.” Why do we do this? Because about 2/3 of the time the taster buys something, whereas without a taste they are much more likely to leave without purchasing said item.
So why, when I was cleaning the U-Pik area, did I keep finding empty wrappers and half-sucked candy behind the bins, on the floor, etc? Why? This makes no sense to me. What, is it the thrill of stealing a nickel’s worth of candy?
This is, of course, why we are continually going through the place cleaning up - humans are such filthy creatures.
Ladders are not deathtraps - I’m always amazed at the contrasts between work environments. In my office job people were SHOCKED that I would voluntarily lift an entire ream of paper. In my current job I’m slinging 20 and 30 pound boxes all day. Well, I was cleaning the nut and cracker area, and behind the counter we have shelves. While I can lift things down from the shelves it’s all overhead. I needed to really clean up that shelf. So I got a ladder out of the back and used that. Keep in mind, this is the exact same ladder I use to get down 20 and 30 pound boxes from the storage area.
The whole time I’m cleaning the shelf people come by "Ooo - be careful! Ladders are dangerous!" “Ooo - be careful, you could fall!”
Well, OK, after mopping the floor a couple days ago I slipped on a wet spot and made a spectacular pratfall, but no harm done. The only thing I’m carrying up and down this ladder is a cleaning rag. The 10-12 pound binds of nuts I’m temporarily putting on the shelf below. This is all very minor stuff but people are reacting like I’m Evil Kenieval.
The other irony? My second job is painting houses. The outside of houses. That’s me 20 feet up a ladder with a gallon can of paint hanging from one hand and a stiff breeze blowing. 3 feet up a step ladder? Pffffft!
Sugar-free? Zero Carbs? This is a fucking CANDY STORE! - We actually do have a sugar free counter. I have tried the stuff. I actually tastes good, and in many cases there is no disernable difference in taste. (I actually like the sugar-free white chocolate coconut haystacks better than the regular). But people ask for the darndest things! First of all, sugar-free != calorie free. Some things are “reduced sugar” or “no sugar added” because stuff like fruit (for the chocolate covered raisins and cherries) already has natural sugars and it’s just not practical/possible to remove it. So far, no one has asked for sugar free rock candy, but we’re expecting it any day now
At least once a week we have someone (invariably female with that tanning bed look and showing off buff skin) waltzes in and demand a report on carb content for everything. IT’S A GODDAMNED CANDY STORE!!! Everything has carbs. If you want healthy the closest thing we have are the raw nuts, the dried fruit, and the rice crackers. If you want “healthy” put the cotton candy back on the shelf, m’kay? Just admit you’re eating for fun, and exercise some self-restraint.
Then she goes to the liquor store and pesters them for non-alcoholic vodka.
So Broomstick… how goes the job hunt (you know; the airport job on the other side of the gate)? Haven’t heard much about it, but some folks in Texas are, uhh, pullin* for you.
Here’s hoping for the best.
*I can’t believe I said that.