123
Does the average american, when naming a price of any given item, takes into account taxes or disregards it? (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
100 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Watching a documentary, there was aremark from the journalist on how, due to how wildly taxation on goods may vary, from area to area, in the US, most retailers do not put the full prices on the shelves and instead just tally it at checkout.

This made no sense to me, a european, as when I go to any regular shop, prices already include all taxes applicable to the product.

There are specialty stores where VAT and other taxes may not be applied on the price on the shelf but those are usually wholesellers, selling for professionals, that already know what additional taxes will be added and at which rates, at checkout.

Not having the full price you'll be paying, on display, seems very underhanded and a bad practice. The client should know how much they are going to pay from the moment they pick an item.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] 77 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The whole argument of "it's cause there's so much variation in tax amount" never really made sense to me as an excuse. Like.. you'd print the labels at the store wouldn't you? So you just put the tax amount in the system for that store and print it.. the only way it makes sense is if for some reason you're shipping price tags across the country

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    There are often nation-wide or region-wide advertising campaigns that proudly display a price. If individual cities have different sales taxes, that would make it hard. Personally, I still don't find this to be a good reason. Just charge a single amount anyway and eat the costs in the high tax area. Price it in.

    Edit: now that I'm thinking about it, many chain businesses are franchised. So each McDonald's (for example) is independently owned. So they couldn't just eat the cost in those areas.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [โ€“] 9 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Sales tax varies city by city, which means a business cannot have a central distribution center where price tagging occurs, nor could they move inventory (something that happens in retail quite often) - substantially shifting the burden onto businesses. For better or worse, I'm sure that's how the price tagging discussion went...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    All of that is nonsense.

    I worked for 2 corporate retail chains that would send the stores the price labels for sales and we would print out a file for other tags.

    In a quarter, most labels would be replaced and they would send irregular price changes every week. We would spend probably 10 man-hours a week taking down and putting up labels under typical operations.

    Items don't generally move far or often, except for rotating display spaces at the ends of aisles for promotional items where every tag changes. Every few years they might make radical changes to item placements, but they tend not to because it confuses customers.

    There is no reason to exclude the tax in the price labels except for tradition and/or concealing how much you will actually pay with the tax added. Most people know what the taxes are in the area they shop and will just round up to the next dollar or add 10% if they are on a budget.

    Bring on wireless electronic price tags that show the price including tax.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    wireless electronic price tags

    I'd rather not... They already use these to implement dynamic pricing based on stock levels, best before dates, etc. Only a matter of time before they feed surveillance camera data to the system to take the appearances of nearby customers into account. (I wonder if it's already a thing in those no-register stores in the States? They can probably also pull in your shopping history, search history, etc?)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Why would they take appearance into consideration when they can detect your phone and know exactly what your income level is and your purchasing habits?

    Would you support an individualized pricing system if it meant that disadvantaged individuals could afford a better quality of life that is subsidized by charging wealthy people more?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Would you support an individualized pricing system if it meant that disadvantaged individuals could afford a better quality of life that is subsidized by charging wealthy people more?

    You're not from around here, are you, pardner?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] [S] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Meanwhile, electronic price tags have been introduced in the market.

    It's these small e-ink devices that are tethered to a central input station in the backroom, where a person inputs prices.

    I've seen tags change in front of my eyes, updating price, adding promotional info or changing the product available on shelf.

    Inventory movements are not an excuse, I'd say. Regardless the end sale price, if a product is not sold, it is just inventory, which value is fixed for the company.

    Lidl moves tons of non perishable inventory from central wharehouses to stores, daily, and they could not care what the end price was at the store. A given item may cost an X amount in a given season, disappear for a couple of months, then return to the shelves with a different price. The inventory value does not oscilate.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 10 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I've seen tags change in front of my eyes,

    I don't understand how that's better in any way? If customers should know how much an item costs, the cost shouldn't change during store hours at all.

    In the US, we're using those tags to implement surge pricing. Even if we included tax on the tag, you still don't know how much it costs until you check out, because these tags let companies change the price at will.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] [S] 9 points 1 year ago

    I've seen a tag change price but that price would only take effect the next day, as the store would be having a promotion on peaches. I simply asked for a clarification and the tag was rolled back.

    On the day price changes are only done to clear perishables that otherwise will end in the trash, like fresh pastries or bread. And such changes can only take effect near to the closing hours of the store. Price variations throughout the day is a crime and stores have been heavily fined for it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [โ€“] 12 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I've not worked in retail in over 2 decades, we printed all the price labels at the store back then and we have a universal VAT rate across the country meaning they could have done it centrally. I don't think the UK is over 30 years more technologically advanced than the US making that impossible.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I don't think the retailers are saying they can't price at the store-level. They are saying it is inefficient and burdensome - particularly as inventory moves (and would need to be recalculated and retagged). Anywho, it's something you get used to, even if it is a weird way to operate.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Inventory can move store to store but the price tag remains on the shelf at the store, so this argument doesn't really make sense to me.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 0 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Many/most put the tag right on the item not the shelf. Thats for groceries only. And even here a lot.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I only see that at independent corner stores here. If we're talking inefficiency, having to label every single product on the shelf is peak inefficiency.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)

    One label for 10s of products is less efficient than separate labels for every product. Explain exactly how that works. This is what Walmart, target, kroger, aldis, and every other major chain that actually has to deal with logistics does.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago

    you'd print the labels at the store wouldn't you?

    No.

    At least the large corporations I've worked at, no.

    Price updates were printed at HQ or local distro center and shipped with the weekly shipment. Sale stickers and new isles/planograms too.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent