I can imagine a kid walking into a dollar store with exactly a dollar's worth of change in his pocket. As he picks out his cheap toy, he brings it up to the register and the lady says, "That'll be $1.04, please." The poor kid starts crying as sympathetic onlookers start hurling pennies at the young child...

All this could be fixed, of course, by a store that does not use extra change. They just round to the nearest dollar. Sometimes you might pay a little extra, but there would be other times where you would save money, too. And it doesn't just stop at the $1.00 mark. _This_ Dollar store doesn't just carry cheap accessories. Prices go up as high as a Wal-Mart or K-Mart. Without change.
-- ghillie, Sep 18 2003

(???) Gettin' rid of those pesky pennies http://www.halfbake...7_20sales_20gimmick
like [blissmiss] mentioned [jivetalkinrobot, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Taken to the next level http://www.halfbake..._20Pricing_20Scheme
Rounding related to purchase size [PiledHigherandDeeper, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Why, I remember back in the day when we had penny candy, a whole bag of gumballs would only cost two cents, and a whole string of licorice cost a dime...
-- k_sra, Sep 18 2003


[blissmiss] Where?
-- ghillie, Sep 18 2003


I seem to remember reading about Marks n Sparks rounding up their prices to the nearest pound. Apart from the stated reason of simplifying things for customers it netted them a tidy profit. If anyone can confirm or refute this as the case may be, it would be interesting to see if the old brain-box is still coughing up the odd piece of relevant information from the mysts of time.
-- Salmon Of Doubt, Jun 08 2006


in new zealand, they don't have pennies, or similar coins. every thing starts at five cents. made for some nice round prices. especially when sales tax and gmt were already added to the cost.
-- tcarson, Jun 09 2006


A real dollar store would be one where the sign "Everything in the store - $1" would be taken literally.
-- phundug, Jun 09 2006


I remember when I was younger, asking my mother why it wasn't an even amount when we bought stuff at dollar stores.

I agree with this idea. (+)
-- BJS, Jun 10 2006



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