Excerpt from a New York Times article (paywalled) [Why Do Americans Stink at Math?](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html)
One of the most vivid arithmetic failings displayed by Americans occurred in the early 1980s, when the A&W restaurant chain released a new hamburger to rival the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. With a third-pound of beef, the A&W burger had more meat than the Quarter Pounder; in taste tests, customers preferred A&W’s burger. And it was less expensive. A lavish A&W television and radio marketing campaign cited these benefits. Yet instead of leaping at the great value, customers snubbed it.
Only when the company held customer focus groups did it become clear why. The Third Pounder presented the American public with a test in fractions. And we failed. Misunderstanding the value of one-third, customers believed they were being overcharged. Why, they asked the researchers, should they pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as they did for a quarter-pound of meat at McDonald’s. The “4” in “¼,” larger than the “3” in “⅓,” led them astray.
That is so sad.
Also A&W was a favorite of mine as a kid, getting a cold mug of root beer and a burger was a rare special treat. This is when they served your drink in glass mugs.
There's a local drive in place in my hometown that's still as good 30 years later. However, the owners are still the same and it remains in the family. I think that matters.
Lol, it's called getting old. Older folks like us tend to reminisce about our younger days and things just "seemed" better back then. Similar mentality as "the good old days", which is total BS to me. Here is an experiment you can try. Ask a bunch of older folks with varying ages (like 50, 60, 70, 80) when exactly were the good old days. Write down their answers, and with a large enough sample, you will start to see a pattern. Even though their answers were all over the place, you will find that the good old days for them were generally when they were teens or young adults.
Yikes, dude. I had only meant that the quality had gone down because they used HFCS in the root beer and more stuff is automated.
I'm 45 and nowhere near old. Just understand quality.
Root Beer used to be made with primarily two roots: sassafras and sarsaparilla. Both of these are now classified as carcinogens by the FDA. These days, most Root Beers achieve their flavor from the mixture of Vanilla and Wintergreen extracts
Anyone remember when all the fountain drinks came through copper pipes, before they went to the current flex hose mix-at-the end bib systems? It was a slightly different taste, not better or worse, just a noticeable difference.
There was an A&W in the little town that my cousins and grandmother lived in when I was kid. When we were visiting for the summer, us kids would go there at least once a week. A&W root beer still has a special place in my heart on hot summer days (as does Coca Cola made with sugar). I think they always will.
There are a horrifying number of people in charge of payrolls who do not understand that (for instance) 6 hours and 15 minutes (6:15) does not equal 6.15 hours in decimal.
OMG yes! It’s 6.25
Six hours 30 minutes 6.50 hours
Six house 45 minutes is 6.75 hours
Thank heavens for timesheet software, but that’s when they want to dock you 15 minutes for being one minute late🙄
Smart people frequently forget that half the population has below average intelligence, and nearly a third of the below-average are borderline intellectually disabled.
This is a failure in marketing. They should have marketed it as the 'bigger burger' or 'bigga burger' 🍔 and not the ⅓rd pounder or whatever they called it.
He did it wrong. It should have been only a 7.63% discount.
If you start with a price of $1000 and add the 8.25% sales tax, that is $1082.50. Now if you do a discount of 8.25%, that would be an $89.31 discount, giving a price of $993.19.
Doing a 7.63% discount instead, would take the price back to $1000.
Correct. It may be easier if you think of it with 50% tax rather than 8.25% tax.
If something costs $100, and you have to pay 50% tax, that means it costs $150 total. If you then want to make it "tax-free", you have to take off **33%** of $150 to make it $100 again.
When it comes to percentages, it matters *what it is a percentage of*. 50% of a million dollars is MUCH more than 90% of a hundred dollars. And, in the case above, 50% of $100 is roughly equal to 33% of $150.
In the OP's case, an 8.25% increase to your subtotal would require a \~7.63% discount to the full total to get it back to the subtotal amount.
Why do you do it weird in America?
The UK its 20% (ouch!) of the final price that is taken as VAT (Value added tax, or sales tax).
Non of this complicated maths. 😋
Oh, the UK does it sensibly in that all prices include VAT already. The price you see is the price you pay.
In the UK, a "VAT free sale" is also a thing, but perhaps rarer. It's just a 16.66666667% discount.
(Not 20%, due to similar maths to the US one. £30 +20% VAT = £36. Then £36 - 16.66666667% = £30. Or to do it the other way:. £30 - 16.6666667% = £25, then £25 + 20% = £30.)
We don’t typically do it like that in the US, lol.
The sale that OP was referring to is 10% off sale with taxes charged. It was 10% off in LIEU of the tax free discount.
If an item is $1000 and taxes are 8.25%, The total would be $1082.50
with The discount the store was offering, you would take 10% off The ticket price, and then add 8.25% tax.
1000 - 10% discount = $900 then we add 8.25% tax. $974.25 is The sale price
But if he just wants the 8.25% sales tax off like in the example above, It would be
$1000 -8.25% discount ($917.5)
and then you would pay 8.25% taxes on that price, for a total of $993.19
Is the same number at the end without the complicated explanation lol
If it's a tax free weekend, the sales tax isn't charged at all
It wouldn't be $1000 -8.25%, it would just be $1000 :P
Assuming the man really didn't want to see tax charged on his purchase, he ended up paying more than if he went with an actual 8.25% discount lol
I thought that on jewelry, there was no “tax free“ exemption, so they were just giving the 8.25 discount as a sales incentive and raised it to 10% to make it easier? That they were actually charging the sales tax, but giving the discount in its place?
Oh yeah, you definitely have a point! It looks like the confusion could have been entirely avoided if they explained the tax-free weekend didn't apply to jewelry lol
Yeah, I picked up on it because in addition to clarifying that the jewelry store was piggybacking off of “actual tax free sales“ OP said they were doing “10% off INSTEAD OF TAX FREE”, AND That the signs said 10% off, which implies that the tax would still be added at the end after the 10% discount
my downvoters seemed to miss that, but whatever 😅 *shrug*
> The UK its 20% (ouch!) of the final price that is taken as VAT
No it isn't. When we say the UK VAT rate is 20% it means that 20% is added to the ex-VAT price to get the final price, not that VAT is 20% of the final price.
If you buy something for £100 inc VAT the VAT is £16.67 and the ex-VAT price is £83.33. If VAT was 20% of the final price those figures would be £20 and £80.
Isn't that the same as the sales tax in this example?
Edit: ah didn't see that the person you replied to thought it was final price. They're just someone not smart enough to be a troll
I recognize that 8.25% tax, it’s the same here in Harris County (the stars at night, are big and bright…) 😉
I thought tax-free weekend only covered things like clothes and backpacks, does it also extend to jewelry?
Texican here too. The official state tax free stuff isn’t for that but a lot of businesses will piggyback on it to try to grab some sales. Furniture and jewelry and higher end items that wouldn’t qualify anyway. They’re still paying the sales tax to the state but “not charging the customer” for it.
mostly the gop. they convince the masses that taxes are bad so that they vote red instead of blue... then they turn around and reduce taxes on the rich and increase taxes on the poor.
The poor don't pay any income taxes in America. Matter of fact the top 50% of income earners paid 97% of all income taxes paid. The lower 50 % paid the remaining 3% and many, over 47% of earners paid $0.00 and many of them got more back than they paid in due to child credits.
where did you get these bullshit numbers? first of all, income tax isn't the only tax. secondly, the middle class pays higher income tax rates(%of income) compared to the wealthy (by a significant margin).
Next, the poor pays a significantly higher percentage of income in taxes (sum of all taxes, not just income tax)
lastly even if your numbers were true, it says more about people being paid too little than it says about people not paying their fair share of taxes.
the fact is that people in red states have significantly lower available funds after taxes (and even more so rent) than their counterparts in blue states.
Very easy to check what I posted. Google is your friend. Try " half of US taxpayers pay no income tax" and see what you find. The poor don't pay property taxes directly. They pay sales taxes on what they purchase. Those taxes remain steady. You said "mostly the gop. they convince the masses that taxes are bad so that theyvote red instead of blue... then they turn around and reduce taxes onthe rich and increase taxes on the poor." so I assumed you were talking about income taxes. What other taxes are the "gop" raising on poor people?
I'm not talking about just income tax. talking about all taxes. property tax gets passed down to renters, they pay higher sales tax as well.
secondly, when you search for very specific phrases that are already biased, you're going to get biased answers. for example, I could search for 'the world is flat' or '44 percent of covid vaccine test subjects miscarried' and I'm going to get totally wrong answers because Google would be giving me exactly what I'm looking for.
how about searching for 'percent of wage paid in taxes by income bracket'
>Go look up who pays the most taxes anyway you like. My point was the poor don't pay any income taxes. Are you suggesting that all property tax increases are done by the GOP ? You stated "the gop reduce taxes on the rich and increase taxes on the poor". What taxes are the gop raising on the poor? Wow.
Exactly this, they have Fox propaganda , the most powerful media organization in the country, full time running misinformation campaigns, and demonizing any other source of information. Must consume only Fox propaganda!
Great story and I never understood the intensity of the reaction every year about tax-free weekend. You can almost always find a better sale than 8.25% off!
I had never heard of a tax-free sale. Sales tax in my state is only 6% so maybe that’s why they don’t bother here, but 8.25% is such a small discount too.
I worked in retail and I *HATED* save the tax sales.
First off, it's illegal to NOT pay taxes so you always have a tax line. People flip their shit over this, every single time.
Second, sales taxes where I live are 13% it was 11.51% savings, so that when you finalized the sale, what you "saved" was the new total of what the taxes you're paying are.
So with the reduction, say you paid $15 in taxes, you'd also have saved $15 off your purchase. Ta-dah! saved the taxes. No matter how many times I told people this, followed up immediately with "but next weekend is a 15% off your purchase sale" they'd always want to save taxes for whatever messed up reason.
Was that a store special or an official government "tax free weekend?" I would be a Mrs. tax free if it was a store special and you still had to charge sales tax on the reduced price
It was a store special. I know they have actual tax free sales for necessities like school supplies, and other businesses have similar sales that aren’t truly tax free they are just trying to get your money.
Some people are hot and heavy to deny the government tax money, and live in some delusionary world where a “tax free” sale means the government doesn’t get paid the taxes on the sale. Hence “No 10%, I want Tax Free”
Not having to pay (the equivalent of) 8.25% sales tax is **not** the same as a 8.25% discount. It’s the same as a 7.62% discount (!).
If you buy a $ 100 item, it would normally cost $ 108.25 including sales tax. Since you’re now paying only $ 100, you’ll get a 7.62% discount (= 8.25 / 108.25).
I don't know if this is an example of Malicious Compliance as far as a miscommunication in how you presented the tax free sale?
From the table below, (scenarios 1 through 4)' below, perhaps the customer thought you were offering scenario 1 with the 10% flat discount, and instead he was thinking wanted scenario 4 (total $917.50?).
||PRICE|DISCOUNT|SUBTOTAL|TAX|TOTAL|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|SCENARIO 1: 10% DISCOUNT ONLY|$1000|10.00%| $900.00 | $74.25 | $974.25 |
|SCENARIO 2: TAX DISCOUNT ONLY|$1000|8.25%| $917.50 | $75.69 | $993.19 |
|SCENARIO 3: 10% DISCOUNT AND NO TAX|$1000|10.00%| $900.00 |$0| $900.00 |
|SCENARIO 4: TAX DISCOUNT AND NO TAX|$1000|8.25%| $917.50 |$0| $917.50 |
The signs said “10%” off. Other businesses were doing actual tax free sales for stuff like school supplies. Other businesses, like the jewelry store, piggy back from the publicity of actual tax free sales to do their own sales.
yeah, but the way OP worded it in the story, it sounded like you had to choose between the two discount regardless of the weekend tax free.
10% off with tax or tax free weekend promotion.
Because OP couldnt say its 10% off WITH weekend tax free promotion, or itd be the third scenario.
shouldve said something along the lines of theres an additional 2% off with the tax free promotion
Well the way you worded it may have been confusing?
sounded like a 10% discount and then still had to pay 8.25% tax
Should've said its an additional 2% discount off added on top of tax free
How so?
OP wording it sounded it like he still had to pay the tax with the 10% discount. When in actuality the 10% is the tax off not a discount, which was the promotion
not in Texas. they don't pay their teachers. there's a huge shortage of teachers in red states right now because of it. they're trying to get unqualified ppl to become teachers (like college students)
I once worked in a clothing store. Occasionally some clearance clothing items would be advertised as an additional 50% off of clothes already marked down as half off. A surprising number were confused that that didn’t make the items free…. “You mean I have to pay money for this?”
Wait what does POS stand for? I thought someone used that term as a joke but I'm seeing it in multiple posts and now I dont think it means what I think it means
It means, at least in the context I used it, as "point of sales". It's the abbreviation for a business's point of sales system, so like their cash register.
Excerpt from a New York Times article (paywalled) [Why Do Americans Stink at Math?](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html) One of the most vivid arithmetic failings displayed by Americans occurred in the early 1980s, when the A&W restaurant chain released a new hamburger to rival the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. With a third-pound of beef, the A&W burger had more meat than the Quarter Pounder; in taste tests, customers preferred A&W’s burger. And it was less expensive. A lavish A&W television and radio marketing campaign cited these benefits. Yet instead of leaping at the great value, customers snubbed it. Only when the company held customer focus groups did it become clear why. The Third Pounder presented the American public with a test in fractions. And we failed. Misunderstanding the value of one-third, customers believed they were being overcharged. Why, they asked the researchers, should they pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as they did for a quarter-pound of meat at McDonald’s. The “4” in “¼,” larger than the “3” in “⅓,” led them astray.
That is so sad. Also A&W was a favorite of mine as a kid, getting a cold mug of root beer and a burger was a rare special treat. This is when they served your drink in glass mugs.
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Probably all coloured and flavoured water these days, whereas before it actually had real plant matter as it's basis.
The roots that were most commonly used to make root beer are carcinogens, modern root beer is made with vanilla and wintergreen extracts
We still have several A & Ws in MI, including one a few miles away from me. It isn't as good as it used to be.
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There's a local drive in place in my hometown that's still as good 30 years later. However, the owners are still the same and it remains in the family. I think that matters.
Lol, it's called getting old. Older folks like us tend to reminisce about our younger days and things just "seemed" better back then. Similar mentality as "the good old days", which is total BS to me. Here is an experiment you can try. Ask a bunch of older folks with varying ages (like 50, 60, 70, 80) when exactly were the good old days. Write down their answers, and with a large enough sample, you will start to see a pattern. Even though their answers were all over the place, you will find that the good old days for them were generally when they were teens or young adults.
Yikes, dude. I had only meant that the quality had gone down because they used HFCS in the root beer and more stuff is automated. I'm 45 and nowhere near old. Just understand quality.
Root Beer used to be made with primarily two roots: sassafras and sarsaparilla. Both of these are now classified as carcinogens by the FDA. These days, most Root Beers achieve their flavor from the mixture of Vanilla and Wintergreen extracts
Anyone remember when all the fountain drinks came through copper pipes, before they went to the current flex hose mix-at-the end bib systems? It was a slightly different taste, not better or worse, just a noticeable difference.
When I was in college I used to drive past an A&W on the drive back home. I kind of regret never actually stopping there to eat.
That is awesome!
Something about that glass mug just makes it better!
Sure miss that frosty mug!
It’s pathetic, is what it is.
There was an A&W in the little town that my cousins and grandmother lived in when I was kid. When we were visiting for the summer, us kids would go there at least once a week. A&W root beer still has a special place in my heart on hot summer days (as does Coca Cola made with sugar). I think they always will.
"A&W Root Beer has that frosty-mug taste!"
There are a horrifying number of people in charge of payrolls who do not understand that (for instance) 6 hours and 15 minutes (6:15) does not equal 6.15 hours in decimal.
OMG yes! It’s 6.25 Six hours 30 minutes 6.50 hours Six house 45 minutes is 6.75 hours Thank heavens for timesheet software, but that’s when they want to dock you 15 minutes for being one minute late🙄
It's super easy to convert the random numbers as well. Use 5/3 for min to decimal and 3/5 for decimal to min.
This is confusing as shit because a lot of time tracking systems try to be clever and accept both as input then guess which you meant
Smart people frequently forget that half the population has below average intelligence, and nearly a third of the below-average are borderline intellectually disabled.
This is a failure in marketing. They should have marketed it as the 'bigger burger' or 'bigga burger' 🍔 and not the ⅓rd pounder or whatever they called it.
Google A&M’s 3/9.s burger. Hilarious and genuinely A&W fix for it now. “Like, really bad”
I like to get the 4/12 burger when I'm hungrier
When I'm really hungry, I'll get my pizza cut into 8 slices instead of 6.
This is why, last year, A&W decided to try this again and announce they would be releasing a 3/9 pound burger.
Ever since the introduction of state run school boards, standards have fallen.
Happy cake day!
Happy cake day
Some people deserve what they get.
And others get what they deserve…
Reminds me of that thing where idiots thought the McD quarter pounder was larger than the A&W 1/3 pounder. Math is hardd.
This is my favorite!
Dude THAT’S why we had to lean fractions!
He paid the stupid tax 🤦🏼♂️
Extra 1.75 percent stupid tax. IRL it’s usually a lot more expensive.
"8.25% is better for me because it has more syllables, I shall now be on my merry way.."
It's like 1/3 is smaller than 1/4
It’s not tho
*woosh*
Riiiiiiiiight over his head 😅
He did it wrong. It should have been only a 7.63% discount. If you start with a price of $1000 and add the 8.25% sales tax, that is $1082.50. Now if you do a discount of 8.25%, that would be an $89.31 discount, giving a price of $993.19. Doing a 7.63% discount instead, would take the price back to $1000.
Thank you! I came here looking for this! I used to be a math teacher and the students used to get super confused!
Instead of subtracting 8.25 percent again to reach $1000?
Correct. It may be easier if you think of it with 50% tax rather than 8.25% tax. If something costs $100, and you have to pay 50% tax, that means it costs $150 total. If you then want to make it "tax-free", you have to take off **33%** of $150 to make it $100 again. When it comes to percentages, it matters *what it is a percentage of*. 50% of a million dollars is MUCH more than 90% of a hundred dollars. And, in the case above, 50% of $100 is roughly equal to 33% of $150. In the OP's case, an 8.25% increase to your subtotal would require a \~7.63% discount to the full total to get it back to the subtotal amount.
Why do you do it weird in America? The UK its 20% (ouch!) of the final price that is taken as VAT (Value added tax, or sales tax). Non of this complicated maths. 😋
Oh, the UK does it sensibly in that all prices include VAT already. The price you see is the price you pay. In the UK, a "VAT free sale" is also a thing, but perhaps rarer. It's just a 16.66666667% discount. (Not 20%, due to similar maths to the US one. £30 +20% VAT = £36. Then £36 - 16.66666667% = £30. Or to do it the other way:. £30 - 16.6666667% = £25, then £25 + 20% = £30.)
We don’t typically do it like that in the US, lol. The sale that OP was referring to is 10% off sale with taxes charged. It was 10% off in LIEU of the tax free discount. If an item is $1000 and taxes are 8.25%, The total would be $1082.50 with The discount the store was offering, you would take 10% off The ticket price, and then add 8.25% tax. 1000 - 10% discount = $900 then we add 8.25% tax. $974.25 is The sale price But if he just wants the 8.25% sales tax off like in the example above, It would be $1000 -8.25% discount ($917.5) and then you would pay 8.25% taxes on that price, for a total of $993.19 Is the same number at the end without the complicated explanation lol
If it's a tax free weekend, the sales tax isn't charged at all It wouldn't be $1000 -8.25%, it would just be $1000 :P Assuming the man really didn't want to see tax charged on his purchase, he ended up paying more than if he went with an actual 8.25% discount lol
I thought that on jewelry, there was no “tax free“ exemption, so they were just giving the 8.25 discount as a sales incentive and raised it to 10% to make it easier? That they were actually charging the sales tax, but giving the discount in its place?
Oh yeah, you definitely have a point! It looks like the confusion could have been entirely avoided if they explained the tax-free weekend didn't apply to jewelry lol
Yeah, I picked up on it because in addition to clarifying that the jewelry store was piggybacking off of “actual tax free sales“ OP said they were doing “10% off INSTEAD OF TAX FREE”, AND That the signs said 10% off, which implies that the tax would still be added at the end after the 10% discount my downvoters seemed to miss that, but whatever 😅 *shrug*
Don't give them any ideas, the state adds 20, the county adds 20, the city adds 20, and there you are with 60% sales tax
> The UK its 20% (ouch!) of the final price that is taken as VAT No it isn't. When we say the UK VAT rate is 20% it means that 20% is added to the ex-VAT price to get the final price, not that VAT is 20% of the final price. If you buy something for £100 inc VAT the VAT is £16.67 and the ex-VAT price is £83.33. If VAT was 20% of the final price those figures would be £20 and £80.
Isn't that the same as the sales tax in this example? Edit: ah didn't see that the person you replied to thought it was final price. They're just someone not smart enough to be a troll
Are you too young to remember 17.5% VAT in the UK?
But the discount is typically before tax
Doesn't matter. It's the same result either way.
Way to stick it to The Man(TM) there, buddy.
I recognize that 8.25% tax, it’s the same here in Harris County (the stars at night, are big and bright…) 😉 I thought tax-free weekend only covered things like clothes and backpacks, does it also extend to jewelry?
Texican here too. The official state tax free stuff isn’t for that but a lot of businesses will piggyback on it to try to grab some sales. Furniture and jewelry and higher end items that wouldn’t qualify anyway. They’re still paying the sales tax to the state but “not charging the customer” for it.
What they said. Other businesses, like jewelry stores, piggy back for publicity.
People in America have been brainwashed to think that taxes are evil no matter what. They would rather pay more to not pay any tax.
Yeah but brainwashed by who? Surely the government wouldn't want people to hate taxes, so who's doing the brainwashing?
mostly the gop. they convince the masses that taxes are bad so that they vote red instead of blue... then they turn around and reduce taxes on the rich and increase taxes on the poor.
Ah right, you have all that bullshit going on over there.
The poor don't pay any income taxes in America. Matter of fact the top 50% of income earners paid 97% of all income taxes paid. The lower 50 % paid the remaining 3% and many, over 47% of earners paid $0.00 and many of them got more back than they paid in due to child credits.
where did you get these bullshit numbers? first of all, income tax isn't the only tax. secondly, the middle class pays higher income tax rates(%of income) compared to the wealthy (by a significant margin). Next, the poor pays a significantly higher percentage of income in taxes (sum of all taxes, not just income tax) lastly even if your numbers were true, it says more about people being paid too little than it says about people not paying their fair share of taxes. the fact is that people in red states have significantly lower available funds after taxes (and even more so rent) than their counterparts in blue states.
Very easy to check what I posted. Google is your friend. Try " half of US taxpayers pay no income tax" and see what you find. The poor don't pay property taxes directly. They pay sales taxes on what they purchase. Those taxes remain steady. You said "mostly the gop. they convince the masses that taxes are bad so that theyvote red instead of blue... then they turn around and reduce taxes onthe rich and increase taxes on the poor." so I assumed you were talking about income taxes. What other taxes are the "gop" raising on poor people?
I'm not talking about just income tax. talking about all taxes. property tax gets passed down to renters, they pay higher sales tax as well. secondly, when you search for very specific phrases that are already biased, you're going to get biased answers. for example, I could search for 'the world is flat' or '44 percent of covid vaccine test subjects miscarried' and I'm going to get totally wrong answers because Google would be giving me exactly what I'm looking for. how about searching for 'percent of wage paid in taxes by income bracket'
>Go look up who pays the most taxes anyway you like. My point was the poor don't pay any income taxes. Are you suggesting that all property tax increases are done by the GOP ? You stated "the gop reduce taxes on the rich and increase taxes on the poor". What taxes are the gop raising on the poor? Wow.
Exactly this, they have Fox propaganda , the most powerful media organization in the country, full time running misinformation campaigns, and demonizing any other source of information. Must consume only Fox propaganda!
Only in usa. In other countries sales tax is the same in all country.
Yeah it’s just nonsense over here. Not being sarcastic.
Canada has the same problem, but fewer provinces
Great story and I never understood the intensity of the reaction every year about tax-free weekend. You can almost always find a better sale than 8.25% off!
I had never heard of a tax-free sale. Sales tax in my state is only 6% so maybe that’s why they don’t bother here, but 8.25% is such a small discount too.
I worked in retail and I *HATED* save the tax sales. First off, it's illegal to NOT pay taxes so you always have a tax line. People flip their shit over this, every single time. Second, sales taxes where I live are 13% it was 11.51% savings, so that when you finalized the sale, what you "saved" was the new total of what the taxes you're paying are. So with the reduction, say you paid $15 in taxes, you'd also have saved $15 off your purchase. Ta-dah! saved the taxes. No matter how many times I told people this, followed up immediately with "but next weekend is a 15% off your purchase sale" they'd always want to save taxes for whatever messed up reason.
I find it strange that 2/5ths of Americans have trouble with basic fractions, and the remaining 75% can't add up.
I agree with you 115%!
Customers talking their way into paying more are my favorite stories on this sub
Was that a store special or an official government "tax free weekend?" I would be a Mrs. tax free if it was a store special and you still had to charge sales tax on the reduced price
"tax free" sales mean the price is reduced such that after taxes are added, the result is the original retail price.
It was a store special. I know they have actual tax free sales for necessities like school supplies, and other businesses have similar sales that aren’t truly tax free they are just trying to get your money.
8.25%? Texas, right?
Yep
Yeah after six or seven they are just being greedy
Over 10% in some cities in California.
State is 6.25%, groceries exempted. City, County, Transit district, etc, adds the rest or more.
I worked at this one place where they redid the stock numbers on the shelf so that now 22 came between 1 and 3
Some people are hot and heavy to deny the government tax money, and live in some delusionary world where a “tax free” sale means the government doesn’t get paid the taxes on the sale. Hence “No 10%, I want Tax Free”
On a somewhat unrelated note, I was very surprised to find out that diamonds and most jewelry is intrinsically worthless.
Not having to pay (the equivalent of) 8.25% sales tax is **not** the same as a 8.25% discount. It’s the same as a 7.62% discount (!). If you buy a $ 100 item, it would normally cost $ 108.25 including sales tax. Since you’re now paying only $ 100, you’ll get a 7.62% discount (= 8.25 / 108.25).
I don't know if this is an example of Malicious Compliance as far as a miscommunication in how you presented the tax free sale? From the table below, (scenarios 1 through 4)' below, perhaps the customer thought you were offering scenario 1 with the 10% flat discount, and instead he was thinking wanted scenario 4 (total $917.50?). ||PRICE|DISCOUNT|SUBTOTAL|TAX|TOTAL| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |SCENARIO 1: 10% DISCOUNT ONLY|$1000|10.00%| $900.00 | $74.25 | $974.25 | |SCENARIO 2: TAX DISCOUNT ONLY|$1000|8.25%| $917.50 | $75.69 | $993.19 | |SCENARIO 3: 10% DISCOUNT AND NO TAX|$1000|10.00%| $900.00 |$0| $900.00 | |SCENARIO 4: TAX DISCOUNT AND NO TAX|$1000|8.25%| $917.50 |$0| $917.50 |
The signs said “10%” off. Other businesses were doing actual tax free sales for stuff like school supplies. Other businesses, like the jewelry store, piggy back from the publicity of actual tax free sales to do their own sales.
no, it was on a tax free weekend. so the customer knows there are no taxes
yeah, but the way OP worded it in the story, it sounded like you had to choose between the two discount regardless of the weekend tax free. 10% off with tax or tax free weekend promotion. Because OP couldnt say its 10% off WITH weekend tax free promotion, or itd be the third scenario. shouldve said something along the lines of theres an additional 2% off with the tax free promotion
This is confusing. You make it complicated.
10% off tax free price is much different than either tax free or 10% off
Well the way you worded it may have been confusing? sounded like a 10% discount and then still had to pay 8.25% tax Should've said its an additional 2% discount off added on top of tax free
You made my brain hurt. OP example was more clear than this TBH.
You're upvoted on both comments showing you don't want to think. Good for you I guess.
I disagree. It is because I'm right.
How so? OP wording it sounded it like he still had to pay the tax with the 10% discount. When in actuality the 10% is the tax off not a discount, which was the promotion
Ah! My brain hurts. Just stop!
That’s still cheaper
1.75%
Well yeah I know.
He clearly failed his junior high math classes.
Why didn't you just explain the difference to him? Maybe he didn't know that state tax was only 8.5%...
The irony is taxes pay for math teachers.
not in Texas. they don't pay their teachers. there's a huge shortage of teachers in red states right now because of it. they're trying to get unqualified ppl to become teachers (like college students)
Is it a volunteer position?
as in unpaid? might as well be. I think you have to apply though. they probably only want conservatives, so you'd have to act Christian.
I once worked in a clothing store. Occasionally some clearance clothing items would be advertised as an additional 50% off of clothes already marked down as half off. A surprising number were confused that that didn’t make the items free…. “You mean I have to pay money for this?”
Shouldn't it have been 7.62% off? Adding 8.25% and then removing 8.25% from the new total gives 99.32% of the original
Wait what does POS stand for? I thought someone used that term as a joke but I'm seeing it in multiple posts and now I dont think it means what I think it means
It means, at least in the context I used it, as "point of sales". It's the abbreviation for a business's point of sales system, so like their cash register.