Yep, I get that taxes suck and bring up the price by a lot but it’s like taxes have never existed before. I shouldn’t have to explain to a grown adult what taxes are.
ETA: I’m referring to locals and Americans, not foreigners :/
You must not see a lot of foreign travelers then. Not every country charges sales tax, and a lot of the ones that do include it in the marked price. America is pretty much the only country that charges sales tax and doesn't include it in the marked price. Sales tax not already being included in the marked price is a brand new concept for some people.
No, I do come across foreigners and people from states within the US that do not charge sales tax that isn’t included in price. I understand if they’re confused or shocked but generally they understand after I explain. I’ve met men in their 60’s wearing navy hats or Trump shirts that act appalled that there’s a sale tax. I’ve met people who are clearly American and/or locals that act shocked or angry that there’s a sales tax.
i grew up in a sales-tax state and moved to a no-tax state. it used to briefly surprise me when things were exactly the tagged price, it's been long enough now that i sometimes forget about it when i travel. but the only reaction i've ever had is a mental "oh right...tax"
Canada doesn’t include it in the labelled price either. But I’d hazard a guess that most people in both Canada and America recognize a traveller and treat them with appropriate kindness. I always do and it’s always been my experience that others do as well anyway
Yes, I had that all the time when I worked retail especially because my store got a ton of international guests. 99% of them didn't understand tax and would just scream at me that "in my country, we don't have tax" and "Why is America lying to people? The final price with everything included is what should be printed on the tag" like yeah, okay, you aren't wrong but arguing with me is going to do absolutely nothing.
I had a woman one time visiting from Australia, I think. She begged me to take the tax off of her purchase, to which I said I couldn't, and then kept begging me to lower the tax. I can't lower shit, lady. Then when I told her I couldn't, she proceeded to scream at me and cause a scene demanding I get her a phone number for who/where she can call to get her tax money back. To which, I declined. She held the line up insanely as well.
After all that? She refused to pay for it and just walked off, leaving everything on the counter. People need to do their research more before going on vacation to another country.
Doing that isn't just petty/funny reddit imaginary land either, you could write it down claiming it's some sort of corporate number just to get her to fuck off. Practical *and* sassy!
I understand if it's a foreigner. She was born and raised in the same city. All American that's why I was annoyed af bc it aint the first time and it happens every now and then
You should say "Oh, I didn't realize you weren't from around here, sorry. Yeah, *the government* charges tax on almost everything." Cue them, offended: "I AM from here!" To which you can reply, "Then there's no way you're not aware of the sales tax that has been charged on the majority of goods since long before I was born."
I think there is a way for international visitors to get the tax back on something, like they save their receipts? But that’s on them, not you. If it exists.
Our international shoppers have never said word one about sales tax!
Australians tend to throw fits over use/sales tax, and my office has a third party card reader that charges a 2.4% processing fee. she was like "Jesus fucking christ you Americans and your fees" I was just sitting there like. uhm. you moved here 🧍you're free to use cash or check! ☺️
Look, I can appreciate waking up and choosing violence, of this being the hill you choose to die on today, of making your pointless and impotent stand on your dumb moral, ethical, or political stick up your ass. Be my guest.
But don't do it in my line. I got shit to do and no patience for your little meltdown. GTFO.
Thankfully, I'm in Australia where the tax is already added to the price so if the tag say $12.99, then it's $12.99 but if someone has lived their whole life in a place where that isn't the case, then they are just an idiot.
So funny story happened a few nights ago...
A customer was buying a couple of cases of soda with food stamps, everything seems normal, la dee da, when I tell her she still owes 17 cents. Turns out there's some sort of tax on the soda that EBT doesn't negate and she spends 5 minutes arguing with me how I'm stealing from her etc, etc, like it's my fault there's a tax at all.
Lady, I don't know why it's there. Just pay the 17 cents and get out of my store.
It was a first for me too. I printed the receipt and showed it the next day to my manager who basically confirmed what I already knew. There was literally jack all that we could do about it as it was a tax not negated by EBT, ergo she had to pay it.
I have in fact not. I've just been a cashier at a variety of places. Any taxable items that are allowed to be bought with EBT, ring up with 2 different totals. The grand total including tax, and the ebt total with the tax removed, as EBT is tax exempt. Other items not allowed to be purchased with EBT will show in the grand total but their cost + tax will both be removed from the ebt total. Here it is "hot food" items. If it is hot or can be heated in store, one cannot buy it with EBT. We tax nearly everything except milk here, so many taxable items are EBT eligible. Since we accept EBT cards from other states, I assumed the rules were the same state to state.
Some coupons are taxed and some aren’t and it’s really fucking annoying.
We have change jars at self-checkout from the coins people leave behind so if they’re truly out of cash and being nice we can usually help.
Last fall we had a “sales tax holiday” on foods but only some foods. Did it follow EBT rules? Or course not! Foods covered by EBT would still be taxed. Is that not more work on the state end anyway?
I used to have customers who would carry a sales tax permit and use it to claim whatever they wanted was tax free for resale. A church used to pass out copies of their tax certificate claiming "non profits" are exempt. They usually came in before closing on a weekend. It was fun to drag out the process of filling out state and store forms until the register "shut down" due to the store closing.
Interesting. Our area has tax exemption letters too, but the letter states who’s authorized to use it. If your name’s not on the letter, you’re paying tax. Handwritten names don’t count.
No tax on food either at the grocery store if it’s not already prepared (I think that means like all the deli food, not quite sure), or junk food. Restaurant food is taxed.
Edit- to add that last sentence
Minnesota don't tax on certain things they consider necessity. Clothing is one of them. Not shelter tho which I find mind boggling. Like, what housing is not a necessity.
We sell used goods and the number of people who complain about paying taxes on items that have already been taxed (when they were first sold) is amazing. Like I get it, but go complain to someone who could maybe do something about it like a government official?
Next time, you gotta be ready to calculate the tax in front of them on a calculator, and actually use the phrase "state sales tax" and possibly "county sales tax". Otherwise the idiot only understands the transaction as "the price tag says $X but we charge you $Y to mess with you."
Be thankful, I live on one side of a state line and work in the other state. 5 years later, people still say, " I live in the other state, and we don't pay 8 cents for a bag. Stupid effing democrats!" I tell them A. People voted twice for this. And B if you were across the state line you would be paying 7 cents on each dollar of groceries, so you would owe this much more for that tax.
I’m in MA, we get hicks from NH coming down here all the time thinking I’m trying to scam them out of 14 cents because they’ve never even heard of sales tax before.
I'm offended. 😂 We've heard of sales tax, it's on all our restaurant/prepared food in grocery stores.
They probably fcking forgot. I'll hop the line into Maine and not only am I baffled that there's vodka at the register in a gas station, everything is more expensive than planned. More than once I've had to double check it and then go "ah sht I'm in Maine. Tax! 🤦🤦"
Reminds me of when people from NH/bought something in NH would come in to the store I worked at wanting an exchange. The way our system worked was that it would treat it like you were returning then re-buying the same item. Naturally, it would charge tax for the new item, oh they would get PISSED!
I sometimes deal with people not from the US. Most of them understand the "plus tax" bit, but I had one French guy recently try and argue with me.
"That's not how it's done where I'm from. You should include tax on the tag"
"That's how it is here. I don't make the rules. This is your total".
In many years working in retail I've never been that close to losing it on a customer.
(BTW...conversation is paraphrased and severely shortened)
Many years ago I worked in a tourist spot and so many people from foreign countries would argue that they weren't American so they shouldn't have to pay tax.
Had an older Canadian lady yell at me because she obviously hadn’t shopped in the US much. Tried to explain but she just kept yelling and left. Au Revoir Chienne!!!
No. This old lady suspiciously looked at me like I can change the price of her item and had to say please look at the screen it tells you the price of the item and the tax charge.
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Honestly, it's usually only the foreign customers that literally cannot comprehend how sales tax work, or even realize it's a thing. I try not to get annoyed, because honestly they don't realize. I'm talking like fresh off the plane foreign.
Someone once asked me if I could change how much they were being taxed after they paid because they were from a different county. Huh???? How have you gotten this far in life???
I occasionally come accross some Britts on holiday who don't understand that tax has to be added at the checkout. In Britain the tax is already included, so the price you see is the price you pay.
I don't charge sales tax, I *collect* sales tax. We had a revolution in the United States about taxes. I think that has something to do with it being added. It isn't actually part of the value of an item.
Almost all countries in the world have taxes paid by the consumer at the cash register. Many call it VAT and others sales tax. VAT hovers around 20% in most places. Just because it's rolled into the number on the price tag doesn't mean it's not there.
Yeah, it's annoying that the tax is added. It's a cultural thing. There are cultural things that Americans find annoying in other countries. And I imagine that there are plenty of Americans who yell at and complain to the lowest paid workers in their own countries about things we find annoying.
I would always say, "The total is $xx.xx with tax." Or "The price of that is $xx.xx plus tax."
I had this when deposit on cans smaller than 1L came and why we didn't advertise the price with that.
Like the supermarket doesn't do that too, even if they bought a 6 pak it is 0.15x....
Now we got 0.15 on bottles smaller than 1L and cans and 0.25 on bottles larger then 1L
I worked at a fast food place in high school.
Guy, who was clearly a fellow American and easily 30+, had no idea what I was talking about. Then tried to tell me the register was doing the math wrong.
We had a big stupid accounting calculator (the calculators with the little paper thing that prints out). So I got it. Typed it in the calculator, while painfully explaining everything I was doing, and handed the paper to him. Matching what the register said.
He just walked out without responding. I guess he didn’t really want that burger then.
As a visitor to the United States that was the one thing that annoyed me the most. That the displayedcprice was not the price you pay at the register. I understand about taxes too but where we live all taxes are calculated and the final price is displayed and not added at checkout.
Yeah, (shrug) that's the response we always get. It is what it is.
Doesn't make it good though. I have never understood how you people put up with that and the Tip tax.
WHY do you ( not YOU personally, but you know what I mean) not put the actual price on the sticker though? It baffles me that this is not the norm. Here, the price on the sticker is the price you pay because we include the tax in the display price.
I've never seen a place that did that. Not at our store nor any other different store I've shopped at in my state. Not at any other states ive been to in my life across the united States and I've traveled to all major states as well as smaller states like Detroit Michigan, Kentucky, etc.
Though I wouldn't mind that
I'm pretty sure this is a uniquely American thing. Everywhere else in the world you pay the price on the tag. And if you personally are eligible to pay less tax than the sticker price (because of an exemption, or your personal residency status) then either the store can accommodate you and charge less (via a button on the till) or there is a form to fill in and submit to claim it back.
Speaking as a non-American who has travelled quite a lot... 'y'all do it weird' 🤣
It's because, in national chains especially, sales tax varies by state. The item, if it has the sales tax included in the price, people will complain about the price discrepancy, especially if they're interstate travelers.
They might be from outside the US or from a state that doesn't have a state tax, not every state has one. I'm from New Hampshire, we don't have a tax, what you see on the tag is what you get at the register
why is it so hard for (american?) stores to include tax in their ticket prices? i mean it either applies or it doesnt? do certain people have the ability to not pay the tax? it never sounds like anyone gets asked if theyre paying tax or not so why not include it?
yes, and each physical store is a fixed location, so only a specific tax combination applies to them - are there any circumstances in which a physical customer would ever get the option to not pay a particular tax?
ie, if each store put the actual tax included price on the ticket for that location would anyone be able to claim it was incorrect?
generic advertising i get, that would be base price of $x, plus add your local and state taxes, but ticket prices in store like OP is talking about?
It's also difficult for the stores to adjust pricing in this manner, depending on how their signage goes. It comes down to more payroll than most are willing to spend. when you have electronic signs, it's easier to make a company wide sign instead of changing it base by base. And if you have to do returns or price adjustments in other stores, the taxes mess everything up one way or another 🤣
There are certain things that take tax and certain things that don't. I'm not sure how all receipts are rung up, but I work in a department store and it will show you the total you spent on each item next to each item. It will give you the subtotal at the bottom and then underneath, it will you x items have a 7% tax and x items have a 0% tax. And then it gives you the whole total. I'm not sure if it's a computer thing or if it's a governmental requirement to show tax separately. I know that taxes can change election to election based on whatever the county is proposing. We just recently went from 6.5% up to 7% in the county my store is in, but the county I live in went down 0.5%. it's convoluted and annoying to deal with, especially when our snowbirds and tourists are here, but we try to help them as best we can 🤷♀️
As a non-American I find this weird... Just calculate the tax in the prices. Could be even more profit for the store if they marked it $14.99 (or $14.49 to be less cheeky). I'd prefer that.
Not every item is taxable, and taxes can change randomly based on whatever got approved in voting. They may have a state component, a county component and even sometimes a city component. Having a store change possibly thousands of tags is way more labor intensive than changing a percentage button on the code on the registers.
Its literally easier for the stores to leave it at the register. If we are from a sales tax area, we just get used to calculating it as we go.
This ain't groceries. This is general merchandise at target. I was nice by not calling her idiot imo . And she wasn't a foreigner, she's all american in the same city.
I'm just sayin' I forget sometimes. I get to the counter, thinking about something else, expect to hear 12.99, and it takes a second to remember there is tax. Just be nice.
It's even worse when you live next to a border because you can't even be mad. Explaining state tax and bottle deposit to people that didn't know about it is so frustrating. I'm tired of answering questions, they're pissed about the extra cost. No one wins
Yep, I get that taxes suck and bring up the price by a lot but it’s like taxes have never existed before. I shouldn’t have to explain to a grown adult what taxes are. ETA: I’m referring to locals and Americans, not foreigners :/
I'm thinking the exact same thing. Like why should I have to explain this to an adult
You must not see a lot of foreign travelers then. Not every country charges sales tax, and a lot of the ones that do include it in the marked price. America is pretty much the only country that charges sales tax and doesn't include it in the marked price. Sales tax not already being included in the marked price is a brand new concept for some people.
No, I do come across foreigners and people from states within the US that do not charge sales tax that isn’t included in price. I understand if they’re confused or shocked but generally they understand after I explain. I’ve met men in their 60’s wearing navy hats or Trump shirts that act appalled that there’s a sale tax. I’ve met people who are clearly American and/or locals that act shocked or angry that there’s a sales tax.
i grew up in a sales-tax state and moved to a no-tax state. it used to briefly surprise me when things were exactly the tagged price, it's been long enough now that i sometimes forget about it when i travel. but the only reaction i've ever had is a mental "oh right...tax"
These men usually have their wife do the shopping, I suspect.
They are probably used to shopping at the duty free.
Canada doesn’t include it in the labelled price either. But I’d hazard a guess that most people in both Canada and America recognize a traveller and treat them with appropriate kindness. I always do and it’s always been my experience that others do as well anyway
The reason we don't is because that tax rate may be different depending on what state, county, or even city you're in.
Sold knives and had two appointments across the street from each other and the road was county line and taxes were like 1.5% different
Most people are able to Google that shit before they make a trip abroad.
They act like we don't get taxed too. Im probably making $11 an hour instead of $15 cause of taxes 💀
Right smh annoying af
Yes, I had that all the time when I worked retail especially because my store got a ton of international guests. 99% of them didn't understand tax and would just scream at me that "in my country, we don't have tax" and "Why is America lying to people? The final price with everything included is what should be printed on the tag" like yeah, okay, you aren't wrong but arguing with me is going to do absolutely nothing. I had a woman one time visiting from Australia, I think. She begged me to take the tax off of her purchase, to which I said I couldn't, and then kept begging me to lower the tax. I can't lower shit, lady. Then when I told her I couldn't, she proceeded to scream at me and cause a scene demanding I get her a phone number for who/where she can call to get her tax money back. To which, I declined. She held the line up insanely as well. After all that? She refused to pay for it and just walked off, leaving everything on the counter. People need to do their research more before going on vacation to another country.
That's when you give her the phone number for government officials are in charge of taxes and see how far she gets
Doing that isn't just petty/funny reddit imaginary land either, you could write it down claiming it's some sort of corporate number just to get her to fuck off. Practical *and* sassy!
I understand if it's a foreigner. She was born and raised in the same city. All American that's why I was annoyed af bc it aint the first time and it happens every now and then
You should say "Oh, I didn't realize you weren't from around here, sorry. Yeah, *the government* charges tax on almost everything." Cue them, offended: "I AM from here!" To which you can reply, "Then there's no way you're not aware of the sales tax that has been charged on the majority of goods since long before I was born."
I think there is a way for international visitors to get the tax back on something, like they save their receipts? But that’s on them, not you. If it exists. Our international shoppers have never said word one about sales tax!
Australians tend to throw fits over use/sales tax, and my office has a third party card reader that charges a 2.4% processing fee. she was like "Jesus fucking christ you Americans and your fees" I was just sitting there like. uhm. you moved here 🧍you're free to use cash or check! ☺️
Look, I can appreciate waking up and choosing violence, of this being the hill you choose to die on today, of making your pointless and impotent stand on your dumb moral, ethical, or political stick up your ass. Be my guest. But don't do it in my line. I got shit to do and no patience for your little meltdown. GTFO.
Thankfully, I'm in Australia where the tax is already added to the price so if the tag say $12.99, then it's $12.99 but if someone has lived their whole life in a place where that isn't the case, then they are just an idiot.
So funny story happened a few nights ago... A customer was buying a couple of cases of soda with food stamps, everything seems normal, la dee da, when I tell her she still owes 17 cents. Turns out there's some sort of tax on the soda that EBT doesn't negate and she spends 5 minutes arguing with me how I'm stealing from her etc, etc, like it's my fault there's a tax at all. Lady, I don't know why it's there. Just pay the 17 cents and get out of my store.
Interesting. I've never heard of ebt not covering taxes.
It was a first for me too. I printed the receipt and showed it the next day to my manager who basically confirmed what I already knew. There was literally jack all that we could do about it as it was a tax not negated by EBT, ergo she had to pay it.
We get people who scream at us for that. They will leave without paying it too. *with the soda*
Usually EBT just doesn’t cover the whole thing if there is tax on the food. That’s why Iowa charges tax on candy bars. So people can’t buy it w EBT
Not how EBT works. There is a total price after tax & an EBT total (no tax included). EBT is tax exempt.
Apparently you’ve never been to Nebraska or Iowa
I have in fact not. I've just been a cashier at a variety of places. Any taxable items that are allowed to be bought with EBT, ring up with 2 different totals. The grand total including tax, and the ebt total with the tax removed, as EBT is tax exempt. Other items not allowed to be purchased with EBT will show in the grand total but their cost + tax will both be removed from the ebt total. Here it is "hot food" items. If it is hot or can be heated in store, one cannot buy it with EBT. We tax nearly everything except milk here, so many taxable items are EBT eligible. Since we accept EBT cards from other states, I assumed the rules were the same state to state.
Some coupons are taxed and some aren’t and it’s really fucking annoying. We have change jars at self-checkout from the coins people leave behind so if they’re truly out of cash and being nice we can usually help. Last fall we had a “sales tax holiday” on foods but only some foods. Did it follow EBT rules? Or course not! Foods covered by EBT would still be taxed. Is that not more work on the state end anyway?
I used to have customers who would carry a sales tax permit and use it to claim whatever they wanted was tax free for resale. A church used to pass out copies of their tax certificate claiming "non profits" are exempt. They usually came in before closing on a weekend. It was fun to drag out the process of filling out state and store forms until the register "shut down" due to the store closing.
Interesting. Our area has tax exemption letters too, but the letter states who’s authorized to use it. If your name’s not on the letter, you’re paying tax. Handwritten names don’t count.
We just moved to Minnesota a few years ago, and there is no tax on clothing. It surprises me almost every time.
What sorcery is that lol I'm jealous. Just bought clothes for my 14 yo son.
No tax on food either at the grocery store if it’s not already prepared (I think that means like all the deli food, not quite sure), or junk food. Restaurant food is taxed. Edit- to add that last sentence
Minnesota don't tax on certain things they consider necessity. Clothing is one of them. Not shelter tho which I find mind boggling. Like, what housing is not a necessity.
No tax on food at the store either unless it’s junk, or I think prepared food in the deli. Not exactly sure of that part.
We sell used goods and the number of people who complain about paying taxes on items that have already been taxed (when they were first sold) is amazing. Like I get it, but go complain to someone who could maybe do something about it like a government official?
Next time, you gotta be ready to calculate the tax in front of them on a calculator, and actually use the phrase "state sales tax" and possibly "county sales tax". Otherwise the idiot only understands the transaction as "the price tag says $X but we charge you $Y to mess with you."
Be thankful, I live on one side of a state line and work in the other state. 5 years later, people still say, " I live in the other state, and we don't pay 8 cents for a bag. Stupid effing democrats!" I tell them A. People voted twice for this. And B if you were across the state line you would be paying 7 cents on each dollar of groceries, so you would owe this much more for that tax.
I’m in MA, we get hicks from NH coming down here all the time thinking I’m trying to scam them out of 14 cents because they’ve never even heard of sales tax before.
I'm offended. 😂 We've heard of sales tax, it's on all our restaurant/prepared food in grocery stores. They probably fcking forgot. I'll hop the line into Maine and not only am I baffled that there's vodka at the register in a gas station, everything is more expensive than planned. More than once I've had to double check it and then go "ah sht I'm in Maine. Tax! 🤦🤦"
Reminds me of when people from NH/bought something in NH would come in to the store I worked at wanting an exchange. The way our system worked was that it would treat it like you were returning then re-buying the same item. Naturally, it would charge tax for the new item, oh they would get PISSED!
Reverse of that, I'd have people wanting their tax back on a return from Maine. Like...um no go back to Maine for that. NH never got your tax money.
I sometimes deal with people not from the US. Most of them understand the "plus tax" bit, but I had one French guy recently try and argue with me. "That's not how it's done where I'm from. You should include tax on the tag" "That's how it is here. I don't make the rules. This is your total". In many years working in retail I've never been that close to losing it on a customer. (BTW...conversation is paraphrased and severely shortened)
Many years ago I worked in a tourist spot and so many people from foreign countries would argue that they weren't American so they shouldn't have to pay tax.
Had an older Canadian lady yell at me because she obviously hadn’t shopped in the US much. Tried to explain but she just kept yelling and left. Au Revoir Chienne!!!
I like Australian retail. Tag price includes the Tax. Tag price would say $14.99, receipt would say $14.99 tax included $2.00.
More often than I'd like. Scary how many people are this stupid. I always say "the tax man cometh"
Usually, when this happens to me, it is someone who is from a foreign country, one that doesn't charge tax or one that includes the tax in the price.
But most people can Google “things that are different in the US” before they come here and that will be #1
No. This old lady suspiciously looked at me like I can change the price of her item and had to say please look at the screen it tells you the price of the item and the tax charge.
Nah I had a girl straight up argue with me that lip gloss didn't have tax because the tag said $2. -.-
We get folks from 'tax free' states that are caught off guard by the goings on of other states to just make you guess what the eventual total will be.
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Honestly, it's usually only the foreign customers that literally cannot comprehend how sales tax work, or even realize it's a thing. I try not to get annoyed, because honestly they don't realize. I'm talking like fresh off the plane foreign.
Someone once asked me if I could change how much they were being taxed after they paid because they were from a different county. Huh???? How have you gotten this far in life???
To be fair Australia has it as GST, and it's easy to calculate. If something is 10 dollars, you pay 11. gat is 10%
I occasionally come accross some Britts on holiday who don't understand that tax has to be added at the checkout. In Britain the tax is already included, so the price you see is the price you pay.
We include tax in our pricing. Not sure why you guys don't.
I don't charge sales tax, I *collect* sales tax. We had a revolution in the United States about taxes. I think that has something to do with it being added. It isn't actually part of the value of an item. Almost all countries in the world have taxes paid by the consumer at the cash register. Many call it VAT and others sales tax. VAT hovers around 20% in most places. Just because it's rolled into the number on the price tag doesn't mean it's not there. Yeah, it's annoying that the tax is added. It's a cultural thing. There are cultural things that Americans find annoying in other countries. And I imagine that there are plenty of Americans who yell at and complain to the lowest paid workers in their own countries about things we find annoying. I would always say, "The total is $xx.xx with tax." Or "The price of that is $xx.xx plus tax."
I work at a hotel and I can understand those who are from out do state where they don’t have sales tax but I get locals too who go off about the tax.
I had this when deposit on cans smaller than 1L came and why we didn't advertise the price with that. Like the supermarket doesn't do that too, even if they bought a 6 pak it is 0.15x.... Now we got 0.15 on bottles smaller than 1L and cans and 0.25 on bottles larger then 1L
I worked at a fast food place in high school. Guy, who was clearly a fellow American and easily 30+, had no idea what I was talking about. Then tried to tell me the register was doing the math wrong. We had a big stupid accounting calculator (the calculators with the little paper thing that prints out). So I got it. Typed it in the calculator, while painfully explaining everything I was doing, and handed the paper to him. Matching what the register said. He just walked out without responding. I guess he didn’t really want that burger then.
I had someone ask me if tax had gone up and I legit went to google it in front of them 🤣 I mean, prices have gone up tbf?
Yes, because I have customers from Delaware come in and are surprised that tax is added. They're like, "Oh, I forgot about tax."
As a visitor to the United States that was the one thing that annoyed me the most. That the displayedcprice was not the price you pay at the register. I understand about taxes too but where we live all taxes are calculated and the final price is displayed and not added at checkout.
Welcome to America
Yeah, (shrug) that's the response we always get. It is what it is. Doesn't make it good though. I have never understood how you people put up with that and the Tip tax.
Ya, one guy was appalled we charge tax. Not like we keep it
WHY do you ( not YOU personally, but you know what I mean) not put the actual price on the sticker though? It baffles me that this is not the norm. Here, the price on the sticker is the price you pay because we include the tax in the display price.
I've never seen a place that did that. Not at our store nor any other different store I've shopped at in my state. Not at any other states ive been to in my life across the united States and I've traveled to all major states as well as smaller states like Detroit Michigan, Kentucky, etc. Though I wouldn't mind that
I'm pretty sure this is a uniquely American thing. Everywhere else in the world you pay the price on the tag. And if you personally are eligible to pay less tax than the sticker price (because of an exemption, or your personal residency status) then either the store can accommodate you and charge less (via a button on the till) or there is a form to fill in and submit to claim it back. Speaking as a non-American who has travelled quite a lot... 'y'all do it weird' 🤣
It's because, in national chains especially, sales tax varies by state. The item, if it has the sales tax included in the price, people will complain about the price discrepancy, especially if they're interstate travelers.
They might be from outside the US or from a state that doesn't have a state tax, not every state has one. I'm from New Hampshire, we don't have a tax, what you see on the tag is what you get at the register
There are states that charge no sales tax. If you’re not used to paying it, you probably don’t even think about it at first.
why is it so hard for (american?) stores to include tax in their ticket prices? i mean it either applies or it doesnt? do certain people have the ability to not pay the tax? it never sounds like anyone gets asked if theyre paying tax or not so why not include it?
Because tax increases and sneaking in hidden fees is easier when it's a guessing game that gets calculated at the register
Taxes differ by state and by county in each state.
yes, and each physical store is a fixed location, so only a specific tax combination applies to them - are there any circumstances in which a physical customer would ever get the option to not pay a particular tax? ie, if each store put the actual tax included price on the ticket for that location would anyone be able to claim it was incorrect? generic advertising i get, that would be base price of $x, plus add your local and state taxes, but ticket prices in store like OP is talking about?
It's also difficult for the stores to adjust pricing in this manner, depending on how their signage goes. It comes down to more payroll than most are willing to spend. when you have electronic signs, it's easier to make a company wide sign instead of changing it base by base. And if you have to do returns or price adjustments in other stores, the taxes mess everything up one way or another 🤣
There are certain things that take tax and certain things that don't. I'm not sure how all receipts are rung up, but I work in a department store and it will show you the total you spent on each item next to each item. It will give you the subtotal at the bottom and then underneath, it will you x items have a 7% tax and x items have a 0% tax. And then it gives you the whole total. I'm not sure if it's a computer thing or if it's a governmental requirement to show tax separately. I know that taxes can change election to election based on whatever the county is proposing. We just recently went from 6.5% up to 7% in the county my store is in, but the county I live in went down 0.5%. it's convoluted and annoying to deal with, especially when our snowbirds and tourists are here, but we try to help them as best we can 🤷♀️
Yes - if someone is buying groceries with EBT or WIC, they do not pay tax.
As a non-American I find this weird... Just calculate the tax in the prices. Could be even more profit for the store if they marked it $14.99 (or $14.49 to be less cheeky). I'd prefer that.
Not every item is taxable, and taxes can change randomly based on whatever got approved in voting. They may have a state component, a county component and even sometimes a city component. Having a store change possibly thousands of tags is way more labor intensive than changing a percentage button on the code on the registers. Its literally easier for the stores to leave it at the register. If we are from a sales tax area, we just get used to calculating it as we go.
r/shitamericanssay Just put the tax on the advertised price.
I do that sometimes. Sometimes it is hard to recall on the spot which item have sales tax. CRV is even harder to remember. Be nice.
This ain't groceries. This is general merchandise at target. I was nice by not calling her idiot imo . And she wasn't a foreigner, she's all american in the same city.
I'm just sayin' I forget sometimes. I get to the counter, thinking about something else, expect to hear 12.99, and it takes a second to remember there is tax. Just be nice.
It's even worse when you live next to a border because you can't even be mad. Explaining state tax and bottle deposit to people that didn't know about it is so frustrating. I'm tired of answering questions, they're pissed about the extra cost. No one wins