hansolo

joined 7 months ago
[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

That's why I put it in quotes. Its sarcasm to us, but sounds legit to the ignorant consumer.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Because the benefit is that we've habituated ourselves to a system where $9.99^plus tax^ is both good advertising, and it means that the vendor passes the tax on to the consumer. As if they can just their up their hands and say "Sorry man, I don't like it either. Here's how much you owe the government." Gas prices all include a tax of 9/10 of 1 cent per gallon for the same reason.

It also likely stems from early on implementation where no one was sure of the vendor actually paid all those taxes after all, so it's a bit of "added transparency" even though it's not really.

Of course, it's 2025, this would be an easy thing to undo, but Americans are creatures of habit as much as anyone else. Try and charge a Boomer $10 even and say tax is included, they will absolutely think you're ripping them off.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 11 points 2 months ago

A book about this was published last year. "Your Face Belongs to Us" by Kashmir's Hill

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 42 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Nice try, pickpocket on the metro

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago

How dare it work!

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago (4 children)

It's because we don't use a VAT, so taxes are not consistent rates by item or by locality. So for small shops with irregular supply chains, you price the thing however matches your bottom line, then let the register do the work on the final price.

For large chains, it's about consistency. The McDonals 99 cent menu might vary state by state and city by city from the $1.25 menu to still $0.99. An advert for a TV at Walmart would have to list dozens of different prices applicable across the, many within a nominal price of each other.

There's practical reasons, and Americans seem to think a VAT is essential communism (why, I have no clue), so its not likely to change any time soon.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but I'm not THAT happy.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Who TF is scared by Mint?

Did a clean upgrade/install of Mint about 10 hours ago. I'm back to business as usual. Minor tweaks, no tinkering.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago (3 children)
  1. Got some shit done today. That's a happy bat.
[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

Yeah, doing a same parallel tracking, I would have a 13 year old. shudder

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

Not sure, other than a general combo of "question everything" and understanding the scientific method. I've never had to teach it before.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

My Dad quoted this a few times, until he finally realized how incredibly untrue this can be when he falls for too many online scams.

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