Refund penny

[Squares]

Is it good business to ask for a penny to give a whole pound refund?

In a Wick shop I was asked for a penny to get a £10 refund, I had bought £216.00 worth of wallpaper for 3 rooms, I was assured by the very nice helpful assistant that if I was unsure the exact number of rolls I needed, to take 1 extra and if not required to take it back and get a refund.

I admit Homebase would have done the same, but a local buyer to a local seller?

[Ali]

From a business point of view I'd do the same. If you let the person off with the penny it still has to go in the banking to balance the books. Yes its only a penny but it has to come from somewhere.
If you put £20.01 fuel in your car at tescos do you only give them £20? They want every penny as they are responsible for the till balancing.
Although I must admit that on the odd occasion I will throw loose change in the till if the customer just has large notes. But then thats out of my own pocket. Not many shop workers will do that.
If I was getting a £9.99 refund I'd not expect a £10 note without giving them a penny.
At the end of the day the books have to balance.

[Fran]

This is a very common practice, and so many goods are £?.99p to make an item look cheaper, like the ads say under £5 and it costs £4.99, only a penny under. If all shops allowed customers to get off without the penny, it would be a lot of money at the end of the day.

[Alice in Blunderland]

When I worked in a shop I remember the boss telling me another reason why things were charged this way.If an item is five pounds then the money is handed over and no change is often needed to be given, if its 4.99 then the assistant has to go to the till ring it in and get the penny to hand it back.The assistant has to go to the till and so the chances of the money *inadvertantly* going in their pocket rather than the till are reduced.

[angela5]

This is a very common practice, and so many goods are £?.99p to make an item look cheaper, like the ads say under £5 and it costs £4.99, only a penny under. If all shops allowed customers to get off without the penny, it would be a lot of money at the end of the day.



Dunnets garage alway's let you off with pennies if your day dreaming at the petrol pump and end up with £20.02:lol:

[Squares]

I agree with you all regarding the till being correct and the pennys all adding up etc.

But my question was is it good business to ask for the penny. I think it was not.

I really think that the profit the shop made from my purchase would have covered the penny, and I felt the the owner was being very stingey asking for it, and it would make me think twice before shopping there again and giving them any more profit.


How often do you say in the 99p shop forget about the penny?

[sam]

have you ever heard the saying take care of the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves.:o)

[angela5]

How often do you say in the 99p shop forget about the penny?

How often do we say forget about the penny in any shop[smirk] i don't hang around waiting for 1p anyway.

[Alice in Blunderland]

They can say forget about the penny and only ring in the amount you gave them if it has not already been tallied up on the till.You may get away with the penny at Dunnets but my dad went over by a penny at Elm Tree one day and only had a twenty pound note ....boy did they guy behind the till give him a lecture that day about being a business and not a charity.[mad] I couldnt believe it when my dad told me about it he was so upset by it all.

[DW]

Surely the thing to do is to ask the shop to put the spare change in the charity box?
That would be a nice, friendly,sweet, nice, charitable, nice thing to do, wouldn't it?

[Marty McFly]

I agree with you all regarding the till being correct and the pennys all adding up etc.

But my question was is it good business to ask for the penny. I think it was not.

I really think that the profit the shop made from my purchase would have covered the penny, and I felt the the owner was being very stingey asking for it, and it would make me think twice before shopping there again and giving them any more profit.


How often do you say in the 99p shop forget about the penny?


In your case, I think you are right...you had just spent £216 after all.

However, if one of my customers returned something at say, £9.99, I would always ask for the penny before handing over the tenner.

[Lucy]

I have shopped at Fairways in Wick a few time and the nice gentleman in there often takes off the few pennies from the bill. Quite often it is 20 or 30p. I certainly appreciate it

[connieb19]

They can say forget about the penny and only ring in the amount you gave them if it has not already been tallied up on the till.You may get away with the penny at Dunnets but my dad went over by a penny at Elm Tree one day and only had a twenty pound note ....boy did they guy behind the till give him a lecture that day about being a business and not a charity.[mad] I couldnt believe it when my dad told me about it he was so upset by it all.The same thing happened to me at Elm Tree, I had to split a £20 note for a penny..lol

[unicorn]

But if you went to a shop and had spent £9.99 you wouldn't be too chuffed if they didn't offer you your penny :)

[Alice in Blunderland]

The same thing happened to me at Elm Tree, I had to split a £20 note for a penny..lol
Never thought the profit margins on petrol was that tight Connie but obviously their need is greater than yours or my dads poor old pensioner that he is.:lol:

[Buttercup]

Put youself in the shop assistant's position ..... If you forget about the penny in every case your till would be very short at the end of the day and over the working week it would amount to a fairly large sum. How long would that assistant be able to keep their job if their till was constantly short? And what about their reference for any other job they apply for?
If you see the person before you in a queue getting off with 1p wouldn't you want it deducted from your bill? Or, above what amount would you say that the 1p should be forgotten about?
The way most tills are set up now (being conected to a computer) they record every transaction throughout the whole working year/s of every employee and its easily available to review - or ask questions about - at the click of a mouse. It is not the assistant being mean they just have to look after their job or they'll not have one.

[Kingetter]

In my earlier days of smoking (I know bad topic!!) I remember when Senior Service and Players were (now this is "old money" folks), £0.3/10 for 20, £0.1/11 for 10. I can't remember concern about a copper or two, but I know we aren't talking about lots of money there. However, there was a BIG catch in the old days - the Guinea! Anyone remember it and the fact that it was more than a £1 ?

[Squares]

If it had been an assistant then I would fully understand why she had asked, but I was served by the shop owner!

Lucy's point on the gentleman in Fairways & Dunnetts is what I was trying to say, it is good customer relations and good business sense, to keep your customer happy and returning to your shop, even if your till would be out. These are small independent shops not big multi national which have strict procedures.

Would that shop be refunding 1 p to 100 customers in a day? and in a small locally owned store surely not. Even if they did they could put a £1 in the till to balance, and act in a friendly manner rather than a hard nosed business person.

[fred]

In my earlier days of smoking (I know bad topic!!) I remember when Senior Service and Players were (now this is "old money" folks), £0.3/10 for 20, £0.1/11 for 10. I can't remember concern about a copper or two, but I know we aren't talking about lots of money there. However, there was a BIG catch in the old days - the Guinea! Anyone remember it and the fact that it was more than a £1 ?

Very useful the guinea, I think some people still use it. Good at auctions, auctioneers used to take 5% commission and sell in guineas, both the buyer and the seller could keep track of what was going on without having to work it out.

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

A penny these days doesn't really sound a lot.

Remember though it only takes 10 o' these wee beauties to get yourself a packet o' Space Invaders or a mixture.......delicious!!!!!!:lol:

[unicorn]

mmmmmm pickled onion space invaders great for giving you a sore tongue lol

[connieb19]

mmmmmm pickled onion space invaders great for giving you a sore tongue lolI used to love the beefburger ones you used to get years ago..mmm:o)

[unicorn]

the only place I have seen them and always buy them is Skiach filling station.

[angela5]

mmmmmm pickled onion space invaders great for giving you a sore tongue lol

ye get a right sore tounge with pickled onion monster munch. They are yummy mind you.:lol: