Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Math be Good.

When I go shopping I tend to keep a running tally of how much I’m spending.  I round up to account for tax, sometimes round down when I think I’ve done too much rounding up.  It gives me a good idea of how much I’m spending.

Today I got to the checkout counter, expecting it to be somewhere between $100 & $110.  It’s not a perfect system, if I got charged 30¢ extra for something I’d never know.

But today I noticed.  Harmons is having a 5 packs of meat for $20 deal this month.  Since I have a freezer in the basement I decided to take advantage of it and picked up 15 packs (about 1½ lbs each).

After he got done ringing me up the total was $132.47.  I knew something was wrong, but decided that instead of tying up the line just to find out I made a mathematical error, I decided to go over it at home.

Turns out I was right.  If you look at the receipt (click to see better)  it turns out that the first 5 packs were rung up as a group of 4 and a single one.  The computer is supposed to subtract the original amounts and add $20.  Well, it returned the single pack, but charged me the $20 plus the original $24.92 for the first 4 packs.

Fortunately I noticed this, went back to the store, was able to explain it to the Customer Service person and got a refund.

4 comments:

The English Teacher said...

I always watch what's being scanned in. A computer, after all, can only do what it's programmed to do. Glad you caught this.

(PS. I actually had an allergic reaction to the cat hair I inhaled at your place today -- about 3 minutes after I left. No big deal --- major mucus output and watery eyes. A sinus pill took care of it. But it was the worst I've had in a while. Next time, I'll have to be careful not to inhale their fur. Kitties at my ankles = good. Kitties on my hands = okay if I wash them before I touch my face. Kitties where I breathe = not good.)

young-eclectic-encounters said...

I do the same thing and notice if my math or theirs are wrong, but unfortunately with gas prices I don't always go back anymore. One of the disadvantages of living in the boonies, so I stand by the exit and figure it out and go directly to customer service once I figure out what the problem was. excellent tip as nothing and no one is infallable.
Johnina :^A

Alexia said...

I wonder how often we get overcharged for things at the checkout. Every now and then I check, and I have sometimes found small errors - usually too small to worry about. Conversely, maybe we get undercharged sometimes, too.

If you're barbecuing, I'll have some of the spicy Italian sausage, thanks! :)

21 Wits said...

Times like this is why we have to watch out for ourselves at the check out...life and math don't always add up right.....and it seems we're usually always on the outs, instead of the ins....! Once when we were camping I got back to our camp site and noticed hmmmm a whole of more hamburger than I had purchased...the man when bagging our food gave me another man's bag of meat! But I was a good camper/person and can you believe it when I got back to the local grocery store the man was there and I really think the clerks weren't buying his story, until I walked in with all that meat! Shopping can be just so darn fun and time consuming at the same time!