5 ms·

In Russia the smallest coins are practically out of circulation, the price tags are still in x.99 but rounded at checkout.

fsckboy 3y ago
in most of the US, rounding at the checkout is against regulations as it throws off sales tax computations, even though it's only by a small amount.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- scld 3y ago
  a regulation requiring all pricing be post-tax would fix this pretty easily
- lostlogin 3y ago
  Couldn’t they round, then calculate tax? I found US sales tax baffling - I live somewhere that requires the display price to be the out-of-pocket amount.
  - jandrewrogers 3y ago
    The problem in the US is that the local sales tax is the sum of sales taxes created by several independent authorities. These authorities have varying geographic and subject matter scope, and can modify their sales tax on their own schedule. There are effectively thousands of independent sales tax jurisdictions in the US and the details of the computation in those jurisdictions churn regularly. By “late binding” the sales tax, they avoid having to churn the printed/published prices. I think there is also a policy view that taxes should not be hidden, that there is a public interest in making the public aware of precisely how much they are paying in taxes. Taxes that are baked into the price tend to be forgotten about by the public.
    - twiss 3y ago
      > By “late binding” the sales tax, they avoid having to churn the printed/published prices. Strictly speaking, you don't have to change the total price if the tax rate changes, you can change the base price so that the total comes out the same. This is how prices are typically set in Europe, though vendors can of course change prices in response to tax rate changes, but it doesn't normally happen automatically. Now, you might argue this hides the tax even more, if the customer doesn't even notice a price change when the rate changes, but one could also argue the latter is a good thing for the customer (if the business decides to eat the cost, at least for a while).
    - happymellon 3y ago
      > I think there is also a policy view that taxes should not be hidden I have never seen anywhere that advertised the tax rates at a store when I've visited the US. Taxes being different, not baked in, and not advertised just makes the whole system appear random.
- justsomehnguy 3y ago
  You can round down but that would hurt the retailer profits so it would be never be implemented.
  - GuB-42 3y ago
    $9.99 items may go down to $9.95.
    - justsomehnguy 3y ago
      So what, WalMart would go bankrupt? It's a solved thing, for the cash round down, for the credit/plastic/online pay as is. If you remove $0.01 then round down to the nearest .05, if you remove $0.10 then round down to nearest 0.10; so both $9.99 and $9.95 would be $9.90. Simple.

fsckboy 3y ago

in most of the US, rounding at the checkout is against regulations as it throws off sales tax computations, even though it's only by a small amount.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
scld 3y ago
a regulation requiring all pricing be post-tax would fix this pretty easily
lostlogin 3y ago
Couldn’t they round, then calculate tax? I found US sales tax baffling - I live somewhere that requires the display price to be the out-of-pocket amount.
- jandrewrogers 3y ago
  The problem in the US is that the local sales tax is the sum of sales taxes created by several independent authorities. These authorities have varying geographic and subject matter scope, and can modify their sales tax on their own schedule. There are effectively thousands of independent sales tax jurisdictions in the US and the details of the computation in those jurisdictions churn regularly. By “late binding” the sales tax, they avoid having to churn the printed/published prices. I think there is also a policy view that taxes should not be hidden, that there is a public interest in making the public aware of precisely how much they are paying in taxes. Taxes that are baked into the price tend to be forgotten about by the public.
  - twiss 3y ago
    > By “late binding” the sales tax, they avoid having to churn the printed/published prices. Strictly speaking, you don't have to change the total price if the tax rate changes, you can change the base price so that the total comes out the same. This is how prices are typically set in Europe, though vendors can of course change prices in response to tax rate changes, but it doesn't normally happen automatically. Now, you might argue this hides the tax even more, if the customer doesn't even notice a price change when the rate changes, but one could also argue the latter is a good thing for the customer (if the business decides to eat the cost, at least for a while).
  - happymellon 3y ago
    > I think there is also a policy view that taxes should not be hidden I have never seen anywhere that advertised the tax rates at a store when I've visited the US. Taxes being different, not baked in, and not advertised just makes the whole system appear random.
justsomehnguy 3y ago
You can round down but that would hurt the retailer profits so it would be never be implemented.
- GuB-42 3y ago
  $9.99 items may go down to $9.95.
  - justsomehnguy 3y ago
    So what, WalMart would go bankrupt? It's a solved thing, for the cash round down, for the credit/plastic/online pay as is. If you remove $0.01 then round down to the nearest .05, if you remove $0.10 then round down to nearest 0.10; so both $9.99 and $9.95 would be $9.90. Simple.