absary@watdragon.UUCP (03/05/87)
>One thing I really did like about shopping in Australia (and Singapore >and many other non-NorthAmerican countries) is the prices. When I >buy something in Ontario its price is say $4.99. That means that >I actually have to pay $5.34 with tax. That's a $5, a $.25, a $.05, >and 4 $.01s. When I buy the same thing elsewhere its price is $5.00. >That means that I have to give them a $5 bill and that's it. The >concept is so simple it is amazing. Have you ever wondered how many >man-hous of labour go into counting change every year in this country? >In the month I was away the only one-cent coins I saw were sitting >on people's desks at home. Not once was I ever given or asked for >a one-cent coin. Even five-cent coins were very rare. Why can't we >do something sensible like that here? ... You also have to keep in mind that the currencies in some countries are quite poor, which means that 1 cent, or even 5 cents, is worth nearly nothing. That doesn't hold for Australia, I guess. Also, I'd rather compromise having to bother with small change than carrying large change - such as 1 pound coins in England, or 5 mark coins in Germany (they may even have larger coins, I can't remember), and so on. Just think about it, 1 pound (besides being heavy) is worth something like $2 CDN, and 5 DM is worth over $3 CDN. I'd hate to carry all that heavy money with me all the time. Another thing that puzzled me about the overseas countries (such as Germany) is that the tax is included in the price, but prices are usually round numbers (such as 290 DM, for example). I am not sure how that works out. Also, the disadvantage on the business side is obvious with this system. But the science of making money has been studied much more extensively in North America while other countries may not care as much (which means they are not as greedy, which is hard to understand after you've lived here long enough).
rwwetmore@watmath.UUCP (03/06/87)
In article <2395@watdragon.UUCP> absary@watdragon.UUCP (Al Sary) writes: >Another thing that puzzled me about the overseas countries (such as >Germany) is that the tax is included in the price, but prices are >usually round numbers (such as 290 DM, for example). I am not sure how >that works out. Also, the disadvantage on the business side is obvious >with this system. I'm confused. I *always* thought business sales tax was computed from gross inventory and never in bits and drabs from each individual sale. The politics of explicitly adding it to the published price to remind the purchaser of the government take is like that of quoting prices as $2.99 instead of $3 - ie just politics. >But the science of making money has been studied >much more extensively in North America while other countries may not >care as much (which means they are not as greedy, which is hard to >understand after you've lived here long enough). Is this a comment on the gullibility of the NA consumer that makes the time and effort of counting pennies pay off? I can't see how a German or Japanese business would overlook such a trick if it worked?