Is this even legal? They add 99 of a cent?? But it’s really just another dollar..

[u/lord_dankest]

[u/AlexSpectre007]

I was shopping with my friend and suggested him a kettle that was Rs. 800(799 on tag). The store employee heard me and said "Sir, it is 799"

[u/Suiblade → u/AlexSpectre007]

Hahah that’s funny

[u/FluphyBunny → u/AlexSpectre007]

Yes I round up every time. 7.99 is 8 399 is 400. I do it automatically now.

[u/chevyfried → u/FluphyBunny]

Can't tell you how many times my kids come to me and tell me they want to buy something online and it's only $3. I go look and it's $3.99. So I tell them it's $4 and they say no it's $3. Back and forth. Then I'm a really downer when I tell them about tax.

[u/Vorplex → u/chevyfried]

Always takes me by surprise that some countries advertise the price without tax...

[u/BannedAgain-573 → u/Vorplex]

Looking at you USA

[u/SuedeVeil → u/BannedAgain-573]

Canada too.. it's a tough life lesson as a kid when you get your $20 allowance and go to buy something that's $19.99 and can't afford it then have to grovel to your parents to pay the tax lmao.

[u/MyPetMoosie → u/SuedeVeil]

This happened to me but at a fucking elementary school book fair. Tried to buy a 9.99 book with a 10 or something like that and was told I didn't have enough because of tax.

[u/wonderbuoy74 → u/MyPetMoosie]

This should have been exempted from tax. It was for us as kids.

[u/dunno966 → u/wonderbuoy74]

Surprised it wasn't, I would expect that to fall under charity or governmental sales tax exemption

[u/Chloraiscool → u/MyPetMoosie]

Taxing 1st graders now are we?

[u/keto_at_work → u/BannedAgain-573]

We have state, county and city taxes, and areas with a special added tax. Within 10 minutes of me, I have sales tax rates of 9.1%, 9.35%, 10.1%, 10.6%, and 11.1%. When everything is owned by massive multi-state/multi-national companies who make all the signage, they legitimately cannot add tax into every sign and have them be mass producible. Margins can be pretty thin at grocery stores, so you risk losing money just so your signs can be correct.

It sucks, but that's just how our shitty tax code works.

[u/Angelin01 → u/keto_at_work]

That's... pretty much how my country works: federal, state and city taxes, all varied, and everyone manages to display the price with the tax. Think about it: they know how much to charge at the till, they know how much the price is, they could put it on the tag :)

In fact, it's now law (at least in my state) that every tag needs to also include price per weight or per volume (when applicable of course). They still manage to do it

[u/XoXFaby → u/Angelin01]

In fact, it's now law (at least in my state) that every tag needs to also include price per weight or per volume (when applicable of course)

I like that, it's so helpful.

[u/ttaptt → u/XoXFaby]

They do this in the US (not with tax of course, and maybe not everywhere), but my local grocery store is such a rip off I look at this all the time. If you look at the tag on shelf and all the little numbers you'll see like .49/oz or whatever. Takes longer but, I mean, I'm broke, so...

[u/TheSonar → u/[deleted]]

Then you also factor in 1 vs 2 ply, and that not all TP rolls have the same width... It's surprisingly hard

[u/YourAverageGod → u/XoXFaby]

It's how i taught my sister and ex to shop,

Not by price point but by price per ounce. Most stores here have that breakdown

[u/vonmonologue → u/YourAverageGod]

I like when the Charmin gives you “$ per foot” but the Scott gives you “$ per sheet” and the Cottenelle gives you “$ per roll”.

Fuck whoever at corporate is responsible for that whether it’s intentional or just stupidity.

[u/SirAdrian0000 → u/keto_at_work]

they legitimately cannot add tax into every sign and have them be mass producible.

They legitimately could, the technology has existed for several hundred years already and most of the world does it already. In fact, technology has changed to the point where some stores have digital price tags with e-ink on every product so they can do it even easier. Changing the price on a little piece of paper and then sliding that paper next to a product is a job that is literally already done daily all around the world, saying it’s not possible for stores to correctly label prices is just a dumb thing people say when they don’t realize stores already change the prices and labels constantly.

Here’s a good example of the technology required to easily mass produce and properly label things. https://i.imgur.com/wMcqnHK.jpg

[u/enearde11 → u/SirAdrian0000]

I think it gets harder to deal with the issue when printing ads because it would mean you'ld need a specific ad for any single tax code your ads will be displayed in.

In stores, there is absolutely no excuse. If they know how much to charge you at the till, they should properly display their prices, it's ridiculous to even argue otherwise.

[u/XoXFaby → u/keto_at_work]

crazy how other countries can make it work. If only they made devices that can print different numbers on to the same pieces of paper. we could maybe call something like this a printer?

[u/ttaptt → u/XoXFaby]

Right, other countries have health care at no cost, too, but here we are.

[u/ttaptt → u/[deleted]]

That's what I mean. We're pretty well and truly fucked right now. I don't have health insurance, as a 53 year old woman. I'm working on it, but, I mean...

[u/Internep → u/ttaptt]

Health care at socialised cost*

We pay for it, but it's a fraction of yours and the lowest income get it for basically free.

[u/ttaptt → u/Internep]

I would be so 100% okay with that. We pay a shit ton in taxes, too. And then all the other on top of it (school, healthcare, daycare, no paid vacation, no maternity leave, no sick leave). Honestly America is pretty well fucked. It started with Reagan and has just piled on since then. But sure, it's poor immigrants fault. Or liberal's fault. Or the boogyman's fault. Not Rich Assholes Taking Legal Bribes To Keep Them Rich And You Poor faults. It's awful.

[u/do09942 → u/keto_at_work]

I bet you many of the prices are already customized to every neighborhood they are in. They could include the tax. They choose not to. Mainly because a consumer that doesn't do the math in their head will likely see your price as higher and go elsewhere. They are also likely to not notice tax isn't added or ask questions about it if they do notice. In countries that traditionally include the tax in you could get someone in the door by posting a lower price but they might walk away or more likely never come back again if you add it at the register.

[u/Allian42 → u/keto_at_work]

How is that a problem. If they can total your purchase at checkout, they can lookup prices plus taxes to make the signs.

[u/trouserschnauzer → u/Allian42]

They can't. The tax code is too complicated. They just give their best guess at the register. /s

Obviously, the primary reason is so that they can display lower prices.

[u/LichK1ng → u/keto_at_work]

Do you think any of that is unique to the US…? Besides that the store puts up the tags and it isn’t like the merchandise is wandering around out of the city. It’s not hard to do.

[u/Mr_MacGrubber → u/keto_at_work]

They print those little paper signs on every shelf in the store itself. They can add in tax to the price.

[u/sailingtoescape → u/keto_at_work]

Some stores have electronic price tags, I've seen them at Kohl's and I think Lowes. Wouldn't take much for a store to update their prices.

[u/aeneasaquinas → u/keto_at_work]

When everything is owned by massive multi-state/multi-national companies who make all the signage, they legitimately cannot add tax into every sign and have them be mass producible.

They make the signs on the shelf right there.

They literally already do localized pricing. And other countries already have those problems too.

[u/celestiaaaaaa → u/BannedAgain-573]

Unfortunately Canada too...

[u/highwire_ca → u/BannedAgain-573]

Canada too. Here it's an additional 13% sales tax.

[u/Brando43770 → u/chevyfried]

I’d say adults that still see 3.99 as 3 could be easily duped by marketing tactics. Just like 0.99 looks better than 1.00. I expect kids not to quite understand things like this yet, but then again adults fall for grifters all the time.

[u/DinoBirdsBoi → u/chevyfried]

for me, 3.99 is 4 but 3.50 depends on whether i really want it or not really

[u/Doomstik → u/chevyfried]

My kid is real big on arguing what time it is.

Itll be like 7:32 and ill say its 7:30

"NO ITS NOT!"

Listen here you little shit lol.

[u/SirAdrian0000 → u/Doomstik]

“If you knew what time is is why did you ask me?”

Then start asking him questions relevant to them and keep nit picking their answers.

[u/Doomstik → u/SirAdrian0000]

Exactly. And i do immediately come back with "whyd you even ask if you already knew" at this point i think he does it as his own way of just fucking with me. Ive decided its fair play since i mess with him all the time too.

[u/iAmUnintelligible → u/Doomstik]

This reminds me of when my kid was in the "why" phase

We're driving around, he sees a cell phone tower, I tell him it's a cell phone tower. He asks "why?"

Listen kiddo, I don't wanna get into a philosophical discussion with you as to why it's a cell phone tower :p

[u/Arsis82 → u/chevyfried]

Having worked retail there were so many people who would ask for a price and you'd say "it's $.699" and their response would be something like "oh OK, $6"

That also probably explains why so many people get to the register and wonder why their total us way higher than they expected. They bought 15 items but neglected to add that .99x15

[u/quaductas → u/Arsis82]

These people are the reason why all the prices are .99

[u/leonardoty → u/chevyfried]

That means it’s working. Which sucks.

[u/insensitiveTwot → u/chevyfried]

My 29 year old boyfriend does the same thing and it’s maddening like I’m not gonna start a fight over it but damn it makes me clench my teeth

[u/MacaroniQi → u/chevyfried]

99 cents was the best marketing campaign ever made

[u/John_T_Conover → u/chevyfried]

I'm amazed at the number of people who still don't understand gas prices are actually a cent higher than what they think. I'll say it's 2.90 and they'll "correct" me that it's 2.89. I guess nobody notices the 9/10 at the end of the price...or don't understand what it means.

[u/diddyd66 → u/FluphyBunny]

I used to do this all the time, then I started working on a till. Took me ages to stop saying customers totals rounded up lol

[u/bigwilly311 → u/FluphyBunny]

Bro I round up from the bottom. Whatever the first digit is, the actual price is one more

[u/HitBoxesAreMyth → u/FluphyBunny]

When I do a finance sheet for my monthly spending I always round up the cents to a dollar, doesnt matter if i spent $5.05 at mcdiddles, thats $6

[u/RandyBoBandy33 → u/AlexSpectre007]

A salesman on the phone did that same shit to me trying to upsell me something. Saying how an option was only an extra $299. I said twice how I didn’t need the extra stuff and didn’t want to add $300 to the bill. Each time he “corrected” me to “only $299” I’d just pause for like 8 seconds to make it awkward then say “…right, so.. $300”

[u/improbably_me → u/RandyBoBandy33]

I love making it awkward on the sales phonecalls with silence. Makes me feel that I am hitting back with some of the pain they are inflicting with their prices.

[u/Citadel_KenGriffin → u/improbably_me]

Silences sounds like an appropriate compromise. You are not harassing the employee made to do that pitch, but affecting the bottom line of making those calls.

[u/improbably_me → u/Citadel_KenGriffin]

Hit them in their KPIs

[u/Tyler_Zoro → u/RandyBoBandy33]

I’d just pause for like 8 seconds to make it awkward then say “…right, so.. $300”

If I heard that over the phone, my head-canon would be that you're putting yourself on mute, screaming obscenities for 8 seconds and coming back to calmly say, "right, so $300."

[u/Timmyty → u/Tyler_Zoro]

"If this mother sucking CSR doesn't acknowledge my rounding up, I'ma launch this phone into orbit" kinda vibes

[u/ironcladfranklin → u/AlexSpectre007]

I was buying electronics and comparing prices and the salesman corrected me like that. I said if you say that again I'm gonna go to a different store.

[u/didntstopgotitgotit → u/AlexSpectre007]

"Sir, your store is trying to deceive me with their pricing shenanigans!"

[u/skippyjifluvr → u/AlexSpectre007]

The funny thing is even though we’re all smart enough to round up, we are still more likely to buy this than if it said 800

[u/Terrible_Actuator_77 → u/skippyjifluvr]

Ok maybe *somebody* is but it's sure as hell not me.

[u/SinOfDeath69]

They do it to gas prices. $3.54 9/10

[u/35364461a → u/SinOfDeath69]

wait really? i asked my mom what it meant as a kid and she said the $3.54 is for when you buy 9/10 gallons of gas.

…which doesn’t make any more sense now that i think about it

[u/netopiax → u/35364461a]

Your mom is wrong, but it would be a great scheme for an evil gas station owner. Secret 11% price increase.

[u/Zeffsofreshgsix → u/netopiax]

No colonel sanders your wrong.

[u/pigheart → u/Zeffsofreshgsix]

My Mama says that alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush

[u/Techiedad91 → u/pigheart]

Mamas wrong again

[u/mtnlion74 → u/Zeffsofreshgsix]

Somethin' wrong with his medulla oblongata.

[u/BobBelchersBuns → u/Zeffsofreshgsix]

Your wrong what?

[u/grey_sky_eyes → u/35364461a]

Lol my dad told me the same thing and he's convinced he knows everything and is always right. I could pull up all the articles I just searched and show him receipts and he'd still start screaming at me that I'm wrong 🤣

[u/Red-eleven → u/[deleted]]

I’ve seen that video

[u/yomammaaaaa → u/grey_sky_eyes]

I think we're related. My dad even admitted he will argue a point when he knows he's wrong just to argue.

[u/epheisey → u/35364461a]

Did she never look at the display on the pump while she was filling up….

[u/eolson3 → u/epheisey]

The numbers only matter if I buy 9 out of 10 gallons. I bought 12 gallons so I stabbed the attendant and drove away.

[u/oldcoldbellybadness → u/epheisey]

You have a delusional grasp of the average person's math abilities

[u/Roeshambo11 → u/35364461a]

The real reason is because when they did it, gas was like 10-12 cents. So adding one cent was a huge deal. So they'd add 9/10 of a cent to keep the leading number down. Mostly just misdirection to maximize sales

[u/SinOfDeath69 → u/35364461a]

Yeah unfortunately it's priced that way, $3.54 AND 9/10ths of a penny for 1 gallon.

[u/Own-Branch-2283 → u/SinOfDeath69]

Not at Donnie’s Discount Gas in Springfield

[u/dabear51 → u/Own-Branch-2283]

Well he’s out of his element

[u/jerryleebee → u/Own-Branch-2283]

Possibly my favourite joke in all Simpsons episodes.

Edit: found the clip (1m50s)

[u/DrButtgerms → u/SinOfDeath69]

That always struck me as sleazy tbh. I truly hope it isn't spreading to other retail

[u/BannedAgain-573 → u/DrButtgerms]

It has to do with the way taxes and subsidies work. I'll like a YouTube that explains it anyone Cares

"By the 1930s, fractional pricing was introduced at the gas pump. One factor that led to the adoption of the practice was taxes. The first federal gas tax was enacted as part of the Revenue Tax Act of 1932, establishing a federal excise tax on gasoline of 1/10th of a cent."

[u/DrButtgerms → u/BannedAgain-573]

Idk it probably made sense back in the 30s when gas was $0.10/gallon. I guess it's just another old rule that should have been reassessed at some point

[u/314159265358979326 → u/SinOfDeath69]

Gas is priced with mils (1/1000th of a dollar), which used to be more common but are mostly preserved in gas prices. I've never heard of decimils being used before.

[u/KinderGameMichi → u/314159265358979326]

Mils are the smallest legal unit of US currency. There never was a mil coin but there used to be a 1/2 cent coin. Now, you see mils in gas prices and property taxes.

[u/KyleWhy04 → u/SinOfDeath69]

That extra value in gas prices actually has a name, and is an official US monetary value. It’s called a Mill). If you podcast The Omnibus Project did a good episode on it.

[u/ClamClone → u/SinOfDeath69]

Generally companies can only charge in mills as a rate, not as a final price. This is either a screw up by the person making the signs or a scam. Some items like small semiconductors are priced out to mills but then they are typically purchased in the hundreds of items.

[u/gundog48 → u/SinOfDeath69]

That makes sense tbh, because you're often buying a lot of units, so rounding to an arbitrary number of decimal places for the per unit price would simply be inaccurate. This is pretty common for things like bulk liquids.

[u/cravf → u/gundog48]

Except the rounding happens for each gallon not for the entire total. I took a picture way back in the day where I paid $20 and selected the $3.999 gas and the pump stopped at 5.000 gallons and not 5.001 gallons. It pissed me off that now I knew the extra 9 was bullshit. They just round it up before you start pumping.

[u/gundog48 → u/cravf]

Oh that's shitty if that's how they're doing it. It should be a case of:

Bulk price is £1000 per tonne

We want to make 5% margin, so sell at £1050/t

£1050/t = £945/m³ = £0.945/l (in a dream I had once)

So we charge £0.945/l. Filling 50L at the pump = £47.25

not £0.95x50 = £47.50

[u/trenthany → u/cravf]

The phone number to report that is literally on the gas pump for exactly that reason but most people don’t check it and some stations get away with it. They get fined by the state pay a fine to the state and screw the consumer.

[u/cravf → u/trenthany]

Damn I wish I knew this back then. I just thought it was an acceptable scam and that's how they all run.

[u/fluffledump]

If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say the superscript 99 is standard on every tag in that store so when printing tags, you should just input the dollar part of the price and the printer would create a X⁹⁹ tag but whoever made the tags still input X.99 so it printed with X.99⁹⁹.

edit: clarification

[u/Tiggeribby → u/fluffledump]

That’s entirely possible, but if it’s been like this for a while, eventually someone is going to notice and complain.

[u/Fiyachan → u/Tiggeribby]

From my experience in retail, sometimes things aren’t deemed important enough to put time into until someone complains

If it’s not a hazard or it doesn’t cost the company money, then it’s very ‘who cares’

And people aren’t typically gonna complain if it’s actually (technically) cheaper when they bring it to the tills

[u/lionseatcake → u/Fiyachan]

Even WHEN they complain, it isn't worth it.

The customer is not always right. More often the customer is horribly uneducated, inexperienced, or just plain stupid and their complaints should be ignored.

[u/Necessary_Weight2497 → u/lionseatcake]

"The customer is always right" refers to a store selling what customers want, not doing what customers want. If customers want blue shirts, the customer is right and you should sell blue shirts. If customers want some of those ugly-ass Yeezy shoes, then you carry those shoes.

The phrase means that you don't tell the customer that they want something else. You adjust your supply (inventory) to match your customers demand (preferences).

It doesn't mean acquiesce to their every desire and whim. Karen's need to get fucked, not accomodated.

[u/josephlucas → u/Necessary_Weight2497]

The full saying, which is always forgotten, is “the customer is always right in matters of taste”

[u/JB-from-ATL → u/josephlucas]

My taste is for accurate price labels.

[u/improbably_me → u/JB-from-ATL]

I too have a taste for accurate, edible labels

[u/adrikyn → u/Tiggeribby]

The tags are probably not printed at the store, given that they're in color and have white text

[u/Electronic_Gold_86 → u/adrikyn]

Yeah I would say the vendor provided tags

[u/CommiePuddin → u/Tiggeribby]

Gas had done it for decades.

[u/TheOvershear → u/Tiggeribby]

You would be surprised how little a retail employee is going to give a shit.

Source: retail employee

[u/tangerinecoconut → u/fluffledump]

The price is not an error , they have been using this type of pricing since 2008.

https://99only.com/legal-stuff/pricing-policy

[u/tarogon → u/tangerinecoconut]

I was not expecting to read so much text about one cent.

[u/mochacho → u/tarogon]

Imagine spending hours talking about .002 cents with morons.

https://youtu.be/zN9LZ3ojnxY

[u/N64Overclocked → u/tarogon]

0.99 cents 😉

[u/darkfroggyman → u/tangerinecoconut]

Verizon should hire their accountants...

http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/response-from-verizon-100-refund.html

[u/fartmitten → u/darkfroggyman]

I remember listening to this whole thing on YouTube years ago. It's hilariously frustrating how nobody at Verizon seems to understand that there is a difference between 0.002 dollars and 0.002 cents.

[u/SuchCoolBrandon → u/tangerinecoconut]

This is a lot of effort to raise the price by one cent while misleading your customers into thinking you didn't. Good to see what they value their integrity to be.

[u/gorramfrakker → u/fluffledump]

To the 99th power? That some expensive mouthwash.

[u/kremlingrasso → u/fluffledump]

exactly, don't attribute something to malice if it can also be explained with stupidity

[u/counterpots]

this is like how gas stations gas signs say “$3.39^9”

[u/ThingThatsJustBegun → u/counterpots]

I remember years ago Andy Rooney* did a segment where he went to a gas station, pumped one gallon of gas, paid in exact change and demanded his tenth of a cent back - which seems like the exact sort of thing John Mulaney's father would do.

*Those of you under 40 can just talk amongst yourselves.

[u/Admiral_Donuts → u/ThingThatsJustBegun]

Meanwhile in Canada you'll get your change rounded to the nearest nickel and you'll like it.

[u/MemLeakDetected → u/Admiral_Donuts]

That's fine if that is the law everywhere. It cuts out having to mint pennies.

[u/The_Trekspert → u/ThingThatsJustBegun]

Am under 40. Do know who Andy Rooney (and his majestic eyebrows) is.

[u/pm_me_your_taintt → u/ThingThatsJustBegun]

I'm 43. I used to love andy rooney but now through the lens of "the current times" it's just mostly "ok boomer" shit. Assuming he actually did that and didn't make it up for the story, why tf are you hassling a minimum wage kid at a gas station who has no control over that shit? Leave him be. I guarantee you he already hates his job enough without being harassed by a rich old white man.

[u/Rocklobster92 → u/ThingThatsJustBegun]

Well did he get his tenth of a cent back or not?

[u/Designer-Mirror-7995 → u/counterpots]

Exactly what I said.

[u/crossstuck]

wait so is it 3.99.99

[u/DaleGribble312 → u/crossstuck]

Fractional pennies?! Time to break out coupons that are worth 1/100th of a cent to play uno reverse card

[u/PatHeist → u/DaleGribble312]

It's 3 mega-dollars, 99 dollars, and 99 cents

[u/BannedAgain-573 → u/DaleGribble312]

Unusual to see in retail but it's definitely part of your gasoline/fuel buying practice in the US.

[u/_Retired_ → u/crossstuck]

No, it’s 3.9999

[u/PedanticSatiation → u/_Retired_]

It's actually 3.99⁹⁹ ≈ 313600000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[u/wonderful_tacos → u/crossstuck]

no it's 3.99^99 = $3.13e59, don't buy you can get cheaper on amazon

[u/ConsuelaApplebee → u/wonderful_tacos]

Yeah but I can’t wait the 2 days. I think I’ll spend the extra $313000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000. I think the convenience is worth it.

[u/lord_dankest → u/crossstuck]

Exactly. Everyone here saying it’s normal?? I’m confused

[u/altbekannt → u/lord_dankest]

It doesn't add another dollar, it adds another cent

[u/OperationSecured → u/altbekannt]

Welcome to Reddit. 5k upvotes on this…

ETA : 10k and counting, plus fun in this comment chain on what comes after 3.9 when subsections are used in papers.

[u/somefunmaths → u/OperationSecured]

When I was in undergrad, I had to write a group paper about a big lab experiment. Someone in the group, tasked with working on the next subsection after 3.9, decided that it would be labeled 4.0, not 3.10.

There was already a “Section 4” heading below when they did this, but dude was like “oh, whoops, out of sections, gotta be 4.0”. Feels like the same energy as this “extra dollar”.

[u/Joe109885 → u/lord_dankest]

But it’s not another dollar it’s an additional 1 cent.

[u/spyaleatoire → u/lord_dankest]

People saying its normal think you're talking about the .99 in 3.99, they dont see the tiny additional 99 upper right of that. Ignore them, that isn't normal and I have no idea what they're hoping to do by having that

[u/Pls_PmTitsOrFDAU_Thx → u/spyaleatoire]

They clearly mean 3.99^99. It's an exponent... I'm scared

(This is a joke lol)

[u/spyaleatoire → u/Pls_PmTitsOrFDAU_Thx]

Egg prices are getting out of hand

[u/lobster-overrun → u/spyaleatoire]

Egg companies are making record profits. I should have bought stock in them. I guess I put all my eggs in the wrong basket.

[u/flapd00dle → u/lobster-overrun]

What a chicken

[u/Accurate_Koala_4698 → u/Pls_PmTitsOrFDAU_Thx]

Only 3.99^99!

[u/OlOuddinHead → u/Accurate_Koala_4698]

Good thing they just introduced a new standard naming for very large numbers!

[u/TurnstileT → u/Accurate_Koala_4698]

Shit, that's a large number!

[u/ExNihiloish → u/spyaleatoire]

I see 9/10 of a cent on signs every day. Gas. So while it is normal, it's also BS.

[u/AssistantEquivalent2 → u/spyaleatoire]

It’s no different than gas stations charging 3.99&9/10

[u/spyaleatoire → u/AssistantEquivalent2]

Sure, but I'd be posting here if I saw that labeled on a banana.

Its not normal for other products

[u/lobster-overrun → u/AssistantEquivalent2]

The difference is that the fractions of a cent actually can make a difference depending on how many gallons of gas you buy in the transaction. I guarantee you if you start buying bottles of mouthwash like you’re the main character of an elementary school math problem they won’t be adding up all of those penny fractions to accurately count the total price. Each one will be rounded up to 4.

[u/DaleGribble312 → u/lobster-overrun]

Yeh, like around a 16-25cent maximum difference!

[u/directorguy → u/lord_dankest]

Gas stations in the US do this everywhere. You'd be hard pressed to find a gas sign that doesnt.

https://unitedsign.com/a/amp/collections/fuel-price-flip-signs-1

The ones you found could have been printed by mistake, but if thats the case, why isnt there a double period.

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[u/Joubachi → u/lord_dankest]

German here - I've never seen that happening anywhere. To me this isn't normal either. Visited a few countries years back and haven't seen it there either.

EDIT: I don't wanna know what you guys do privately, but fuel and mouthwash aren't the same thing, not even in germany....

[u/Master_Moriarty → u/lord_dankest]

You said it’s another dollar but it’s really another cent the extra 99 is another cent not a dollar lol

[u/iyamasweetpotato → u/lord_dankest]

It's not, people are missing the extra 99

[u/0nlyTw3ntyCharacters → u/lord_dankest]

They do this with gasoline all the time

[u/jarred111 → u/crossstuck]

No it’s actually 3.99⁹⁹

[u/ach-nee → u/jarred111]

So, 313.6 billion trillion trillion trillion trillion dollars?

[u/Croxy1992 → u/crossstuck]

Technically, it's $3.9999. So basically $4.

[u/NoAlternative2913]

So something is 3.99, and they’ve made it 3.9999? That’s not adding another dollar though, that’s just basically saying “this item that was already $4 minus .01 is now $4 minus .0001”, so you pay an extra penny?

[u/Catlover790 → u/NoAlternative2913]

You pay 9/10ths of a penny extra

[u/HelloThereWhere → u/Catlover790]

99/100ths you mean?

[u/Which-Cheesecake-685]

It's not another dollar, it's another cent.

[u/GRIZZLY_GUY_ → u/Which-Cheesecake-685]

Bruh wtf how is this the only comment pointing this out💀

It’s a rounding thing or something, let’s them round up/not have to return the customer 1 penny

[u/BoxTops4Education → u/Which-Cheesecake-685]

Omg is it LEGAL for them to raise their price by another CENT?!!

[u/allisonqrice]

It's still $4 regardless. It's not adding another dollar. It's adding a cent.

[u/4215-5h00732]

These guys are precise.

[u/titanfox98]

Could be just a printing error, don't know how you got it in the us but where I'm from we use thousands of a € for gas and I've never seen the tenth of thousand for anything apart conversions like €-$ or gold/stocks value.

[u/thebiggestpinkcake → u/titanfox98]

It's not a printing error. This is the 99 store (formally named the 99 cent only store ). These stores are all over southern California, they are pretty popular. Everything used to cost 99¢ but around ten years ago everything was raised by a cent but instead of renaming the stores they just labeled all the prices as 99.99¢. Then around five years ago they started selling products for more money so now it's just a regular store. Currently a lot of the 99¢ items were raised to $1.29 plus tax.

[u/titanfox98 → u/thebiggestpinkcake]

I always forget that these prices are before taxes, I'll never understand why you guys do it that way lmao

[u/thebiggestpinkcake → u/titanfox98]

Yeah I wish stores would include the full price including the sales tax on every item. It would make shopping way easier. Especially because everyone city has a different percentage of sales tax. Some cities in Los Angeles county have a 10% sales tax.

[u/lord_dankest → u/titanfox98]

It’s every single price tag

[u/titanfox98 → u/lord_dankest]

Definitely strange, how's the receipt? Is everything rounded to the integer or is it 3.99/4.99 etc?

[u/titanfox98 → u/lord_dankest]

Btw the difference is just a cent on every article

[u/Admirable_Loss4886 → u/titanfox98]

Right, this is just like the gas stations that charge 9/10 of a cent on every gallon of gasoline.

[u/NeitherCapital1541 → u/titanfox98]

Waiting for someone else to realize this

[u/Lo-siento-juan → u/NeitherCapital1541]

I was just baffled how many people don't understand decimal points

[u/NO_N3CK]

On Reddit, we tackle questions that were stupid 100 years ago

[u/cubcaptain]

Gas pumps have entered the chat.

[u/CountKnockula]

Fractional pennies has been a thing at gas stations my entire life. I still think it’s weird.

[u/Septimore]

If i owned a shop i would print even more nines there. Like $3.99.99.99, just because i hate those " Under $4! Just $3,99! " Commercials.

"Yeah? Frick you commercial, never gonna buy that again "

And that would be my war against stupid and manipulating pricing.

Or realistically it would be $4 in my shop...

[u/hiimsubclavian → u/Septimore]

If I was rich I’d buy 100 tubes of toothpaste for 400 dollars and insist on getting a cent back.

[u/Neither-Bus-3686]

Who are they kidding, that marketing strategy is dumb. Whenever i see a nine at the end of a price i don't even bother, i simply round it to the next whole number

[u/Joe109885 → u/Neither-Bus-3686]

You’re right but psychologically it looks better to consumers. When marketing comes up with things like “ONLY $12.99!” They know it’s 13 they know we know it’s 13 but at the end of the day it’s effective, on some level we prefer the looks to $13.04 even if we know the difference. It works even better with bigger numbers.

It may seem dumb but I work in sales and you can see a massive difference in trying to sell something that’s $13,211 or $12,923. 300 off of a 13k dollar purchase isn’t much but when you look at those numbers on paper it’s just easier to accept the $12,923.

[u/amandajag]

This is the 99 cent store. The receipt shows this product as:

3.9999

The result is you pay $4 plus tax

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/8s6dna/the_99_cents_only_store_actually_charges_9999

https://99only.com

[u/Jaded-Function]

Belongs in mildlydumb. For every 1000 units sold, they make $10 more doing that. You'd think not looking like a greedy fool would be worth $10 to the store owner but guess not.

[u/therealdildoexpert → u/Jaded-Function]

But if someone is paying with cash/coins how are they supposed to pay for the exact price?

[u/GiraffeOnABicycle → u/therealdildoexpert]

That's the point, this is a way to raise the price by one cent. 0.99,99 gets rounded up to one dollar. So there is no change.

[u/Jaded-Function → u/therealdildoexpert]

Yeah and how do they give you your change? I'd so give $4 and say I'm not leaving without a check for $ 0.001.

[u/Joe109885 → u/Jaded-Function]

They probably would just refund you and tell you to leave. Stores can tell you to have exact change or use card, obviously there’s no way to have exact change in cash so you use card, accept that you’re not getting that 1/100 of a penny back, or just shop elsewhere.

[u/I_Bin_Painting → u/Joe109885]

Im buying 100 items, getting my penny change, then returning 99 items.

[u/paldo84 → u/I_Bin_Painting]

Billionaires hate this one simple trick

[u/Etherbeard → u/therealdildoexpert]

There would be rounding. Assuming this is in the States, this isn't the final price anyway because there's going to be sales tax added, and increasing most totals by 7.25% or something like that results in fractions of pennies that then have to be rounded.

[u/ExNihiloish]

Ever seen gas prices? At least in the US. Not sure about elsewhere.

[u/Blast338]

That store is for extremely rich people. The price is 3.99 to the 99th power. It's really 3.1355712E59.

[u/Spirited_Heron5696]

I worked in retail for a long time & you’d be surprised how people don’t think about that 1 penny. They see the first number as in if it’s 7.99 they see 7 even though it’s really 1 cent from 8.

[u/thegreatdesmundo]

Demand the change and see what they do

[u/10Drive]

Who tf cares it’s 1 cent 😂

[u/Physical_Growth_4655]

3.9999 haha

[u/ScottShatter]

Wouldn't it be another penny like gas?? $3.9999 a gallon rounds up to $4 not $4.99. I guess I'm failing to follow how it adds another dollar and not a penny.

[u/iNomNomAwesome]

I mean, if you're too dumb to look at that and instantly know it's really just $4, that's on you

[u/FiBeROpTiK69]

I’d ask for my goddamn $00.0001 change.