What's Wrong With This Picture?

[Jim Koepke]

Bought a few items from one of the local Office supply stores today.

Turns out one item was a limit of 3. Not only did they not get sticky about the limit being to the same household/business, but when Candy said she was going to check the sign, the person who seemed in charge told the clerk to "just let her have it."

I was talking to one of the 'associates' about how there are more employees in the store than customers yet the check out is moving at glacial speeds. She assured me two registers were open. The person at the second register (at the copy shop counter) walked away with people still in line at the register that was obviously open. She also said their system was having problems and running slow. I mentioned to her the axiom I have heard in other trades, "a worker shouldn't blame their poor work on their tools." When I mentioned there was another business supply store in town she cheerfully told me they were both owned by the same company. I mentioned the Fred Meyer in town also sold office supplies.

The odd thing that got me to walk back into the store after leaving was a quick scan of Candy's receipt:

Picture 1.png

When I asked the woman I was talking to earlier what 8% of a dollar should be, she said she didn't know. The man who seemed like the one in charge kind of asked, "should it be 8 cents?" He offered me the penny and reached into his pocket.

I told them this is one of the things they should get taken care of by their corporate decision makers.

One customer told us she works with computers and sometimes they do not put in the decimals if the tax rate was 8.5%. I checked with the Washington State Department of Revenue just to make sure. The tax rate for the location of the business is 8.00%

So now I wonder if they are doing something shady or they have a programmer who is getting paid too much.

jtk

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

I would report that to the state tax collecting authority, no doubt.

[Jim Koepke]

I would report that to the state tax collecting authority, no doubt.

Thanks, already did.

It brought to mind something in the financial community years ago where someone was shaving off the interest on the 4th or 5th decimal point and diverting it to their own account.

They may have some nefarious programmer working for them or maybe just someone who doesn't do their job very well.

jtk

[Howard Garner]

Bought a few items from one of the local Office supply stores today.




The odd thing that got me to walk back into the store after leaving was a quick scan of Candy's receipt:

Picture 1.png

When I asked the woman I was talking to earlier what 8% of a dollar should be, she said she didn't know. The man who seemed like the one in charge kind of asked, "should it be 8 cents?" He offered me the penny and reached into his pocket.

I told them this is one of the things they should get taken care of by their corporate decision makers.


jtk

Actually the state tax department determines where the changes are in the tax rate. They have tables that specify this. from 12 - 24 2cent for instance.
Worked for a point of sale company supporting this type of software. Every state and many localities had different rates and tables that had to be used.

I would expect in this case that the table was programed wrong in this POS system

Howard Garner

[Moses Yoder]

I think maybe the way their calculator is set up it is charging tax on the tax. You would be the first person to notice that.

[Jim Matthews]

It brought to mind something in the financial community years ago where someone was shaving off the interest on the 4th or 5th decimal point and diverting it to their own account.jtk

Wasn't that the subplot of Superman III, with Richard Pryor as the skimming programmer?

[Justin Ludwig]

It brought to mind something in the financial community years ago where someone was shaving off the interest on the 4th or 5th decimal point and diverting it to their own account.
jtk

It was the part of the "get rich slowly" plot of Michael Bolton (not the singer) in Office Space. He put the decimal in the wrong place and they made $300k in one day. I'd post a clip but it has the word "s**t" in it.

[Jim Becker]

There is actually an easy (albeit frustrating) explanation for this. Many states, while saying their rate is "6%" or "8%" use a tax table rather than a straight percentage. If your sale had been $.99, very likely the tax would have been eight cents. But because it was a buck, the table said nine cents. I've run into this in the past...

[mike holden]

Thanks, already did.

It brought to mind something in the financial community years ago where someone was shaving off the interest on the 4th or 5th decimal point and diverting it to their own account.


jtk

That was the plot of one of the superman movies.
The one with Richard Pryor.

[Brian Elfert]

Don't retailers just pay a percentage of their total receipts for the day/month/quarter to the state when they report sales tax? I don't think if they charge you 8 cents in tax for a tax bill of 7.75 cents that they are paying that extra quarter cent to the state. I just assume it mostly evens out as they round down if the tax is less than 1/2 cent.

I paid sales tax in Minnesota 15 years ago and I just reported total sales and then paid the percent based on that. I didn't have to actually track how much sales tax I charged on each transaction and submit exactly that amount.

[Jim Koepke]

Don't retailers just pay a percentage of their total receipts for the day/month/quarter to the state when they report sales tax? I don't think if they charge you 8 cents in tax for a tax bill of 7.75 cents that they are paying that extra quarter cent to the state. I just assume it mostly evens out as they round down if the tax is less than 1/2 cent.

I paid sales tax in Minnesota 15 years ago and I just reported total sales and then paid the percent based on that. I didn't have to actually track how much sales tax I charged on each transaction and submit exactly that amount.

There are likely a few ways this works. Their computer may keep tax and sub totals separate. At the end of the day they have a total of the sub totals and a total of taxes collected. This is overly simplified since they would likely have totals of different categories of items sold.

If they were doing a total of items sold and then calculating the tax, collecting 9¢ where they are paying 8¢ would leave a bit of a profit. It may be an anomaly of entry of the tax tables and a programmer made an error. It may only show up if the register rings up exactly $1.

It would be interesting to know. The state site says they can not report back in many cases. However if something big comes out of it maybe it will be on the evening news.

jtk

[David Helm]

When a business reports sales tax to Washington's Dept of Revenue they report net sales in each location (different locations have different tax rates due to local levies etc.). They then calculate the exact percent for each location to determine the total tax liability. In my opinion, the mistake is in the businesses programming and not at the state level.

[Mike Cutler]

Jim

I ran into something similar at the holidays. I bought a $100.00 Verizon gift card at Target. I got the bill and it included CT state sales tax.
I kinda walked away questioning it, because the state of CT. will do anything to get a buck out of someone. I went back and they ran it again and it wanted to apply sales tax. I'm all for the evils of taxes, but you can't have it on both ends. Well, maybe Connecticut can try.
It was a pleasant exchange and the store manager knew that something wasn't right. She overrode the tax calculator and my bill was $100.00.
I honestly don't know that I would have picked up on it as quickly as you did, if it wasn't that the gift card and a christmas card were the only thing we bought.
They program the registers at a central location and the cashier is just kind of stuck with it at the store.

[Howard Garner]

The store definitely has the register programed wrong.
Here is a link to the tax table for Washington 8%

http://dor.wa.gov/Docs/forms/ExcsTx/...xRtChrt/80.pdf
I also verified the the assuming the OP location of Longview is correct that 8.0% is the correct rate.

You might want to talk to the store about this.

[Jim Matthews]

Spit?

What's wrong with spit?