None of these a reasons the store, which posts it’s own prices and barcodes, can’t just include the total on the tag, or better yet set the price to the nearest whole number (or division of .10/.25) and take the tax out of that full amount. I know because I live in the midwest, I worked in retail/grocery store and our store piloted a test program of doing exactly that. Customers were incredibly happy and our overall sales actual went up because people who didn’t normally shop with us started to because it was easier to budget.
We got shut down by corporate beancounters who were freaking out because we were supposedly making less money. Except our sales and profits were up for the 8 weeks we demo’d the program and 4 weeks after we were forced to stop sales dropped below our year-on-year average. Literally forced to stop a program that benefited the customer and retailer because corporate greed couldn’t tolerate the customer not being screwed.
Prices tags are normally prepared using computers which are famously good at maths. Here in the UK, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have different rules for tax on certain products and yet everything is advertised with the final price.
TV ads usually don’t mention pricing for national brands. Local ads like circulars are generally for just one store anyway. All of this would be low effort to do. The only reason they don’t is it tricks people into spending more than they want.
Prices are printed on packaging for many things too, books, magazines, bags of potatoe chips.
So then stores would have to cover the manufacturer price with a higher one just in their store. Which is a waste of time and material if you can just condition a population to ignore the price jump at the register.
But the point is the same right? Whether you call them countries or states or counties or municipalities, there are multiple levels of government with their own distinct tax structures, but Europe has no problem displaying the final sale price on their tags. Why would this be harder to implement in the US than in Europe?
Not only can Americans comprehend it, they actively choose for it to be this way. Macys tried to switch to straight forward pricing and it did not go well for them so they switched back to their bs sales.
Imo it would only work here if everyone does it at the same time and if it’s implemented by legislation enforcing it. If one company does it, their competitors can take advantage of the perceived differences.
I stopped off in Oregon once for some McDonald’s. My total ended up being $8.00 exactly and I let out a little smile and told the cashier ‘wow perfect, what are the chances’
She looked at me like I was an idiot, and I learned some things about Oregon that day.
You can pick up a coffee mug with a $9.99 price tag, then be asked to pay $10.74 at the register. The German mind cannot comprehend this
Not any sane mind can comprehend this.
I can comprehend it, but I’m certainly not happy about it
🎶Insane in the taxbrain🎶
🔔
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None of these a reasons the store, which posts it’s own prices and barcodes, can’t just include the total on the tag, or better yet set the price to the nearest whole number (or division of .10/.25) and take the tax out of that full amount. I know because I live in the midwest, I worked in retail/grocery store and our store piloted a test program of doing exactly that. Customers were incredibly happy and our overall sales actual went up because people who didn’t normally shop with us started to because it was easier to budget.
We got shut down by corporate beancounters who were freaking out because we were supposedly making less money. Except our sales and profits were up for the 8 weeks we demo’d the program and 4 weeks after we were forced to stop sales dropped below our year-on-year average. Literally forced to stop a program that benefited the customer and retailer because corporate greed couldn’t tolerate the customer not being screwed.
There is zero reason that can’t be on the price tag.
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Prices tags are normally prepared using computers which are famously good at maths. Here in the UK, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have different rules for tax on certain products and yet everything is advertised with the final price.
I would love tax-included pricing (or maybe VAT?), though from what I know:
TV ads, sponsorship spots, circulars all complicate this.
TV ads usually don’t mention pricing for national brands. Local ads like circulars are generally for just one store anyway. All of this would be low effort to do. The only reason they don’t is it tricks people into spending more than they want.
Prices are printed on packaging for many things too, books, magazines, bags of potatoe chips.
So then stores would have to cover the manufacturer price with a higher one just in their store. Which is a waste of time and material if you can just condition a population to ignore the price jump at the register.
Or you can just put it on the shelf like every store does now.
So does Europe.
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But the point is the same right? Whether you call them countries or states or counties or municipalities, there are multiple levels of government with their own distinct tax structures, but Europe has no problem displaying the final sale price on their tags. Why would this be harder to implement in the US than in Europe?
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Germany certainly is a state if you use the right definition.
And counties that have their own sales taxes. So not even within the state is the rate the same.
Not only can Americans comprehend it, they actively choose for it to be this way. Macys tried to switch to straight forward pricing and it did not go well for them so they switched back to their bs sales.
Imo it would only work here if everyone does it at the same time and if it’s implemented by legislation enforcing it. If one company does it, their competitors can take advantage of the perceived differences.
They could also first have both prices and slowly make the “before taxes” less noticeable over years
I thought that was JC Penney’s
E: it was
I stopped off in Oregon once for some McDonald’s. My total ended up being $8.00 exactly and I let out a little smile and told the cashier ‘wow perfect, what are the chances’
She looked at me like I was an idiot, and I learned some things about Oregon that day.
Oregon has entered the chat
neither can the Oregonian mind
A lot of germany has deposits actually, so an extra 25-50 cents on top for cans and glass bottles
Which are only added in fine print on the price tag usually. But it’s more like 8-25 cents for cans, most plastic bottles, and some glass bottles.