Shop cash-tills programmed with incorrect prices

[JR8]

This happens to me about once a month, and happened again this weekend. On my way home I picked up a 6-pack of beer from the local supermarket. They charge the same for beer from the fridge, as beer (warm) off the shelves, so there is no extra fee for chilled beer.

In the fridge the beer was marked on offer as $5.30 for 2 cans, and 6-packs were marked (no offer-px ticket) as $18.50. So, a 6-pack should be $15.90? I got to the cash-till and the 6-pack was rung up at $18.50. I pointed out the error, the check-out lady went to check the shelves, and the queue behind me begun impatiently sighing.

This happens frequently enough that it now surprises me that the uniform pricing, fridge, px/2, px/6, and ditto on the warm shelves, and then what's programmed in the tills is often not synchronised.

I realise many people wouldn't care about 'a mere $2.60', but I do, it's a basic cock-up and it seems their error always works to their advantage.

Maybe something people might consider if buying products on specials - drinks from fridge vs warm shelves, or confectionery on that specific aisle vs the same products right in front of the tills... It doesn't take a moment to mentally note that 5.3 for 2 * 3 = 15.90, and that's what to expect on the receipt.

--- It goes further, the two customers in front of me had disputes over their receipts and offer-prices too.
- One buying a product she thought was on offer, but it wasn't unless bought together with another product. So that item was taken away, and I don't recall now if she was buying anything else this pm, and if so simply left.
- The second buying 8 of a product, but she wanted to use the '3 for 2' offer or similar, so then the excess 2 units were taken away by the cashier, and had to be refunded off her receipt.

[x9200]

You got a valuable package, maybe even with a handle, for your convenience and enjoyment but at your cost. If it was a Takashimaya brand you could use this package in public places as a substitute of Louis Vuitton fake hand bag.

More seriously, some people likely can not count and use no logic in whatever they do.

[JR8]

Just as a p.s. precisely the same thing happened to me again tonight. Same shop, same product. I'd imagined that they would have corrected it from yesterday but no.

This time it was another lady on the cash-till; AFAIK she is the manageress. So when it was scanned I pointed out the error, i.e. '$5.30 for 2 offer, but no offer and $18.50 for 6.... how?'

Her reply: 'Offer on 2 cans, not on 6-pack'.
Me: 'Please open it then, and scan it in as 3*2' - which she did.
Me [confused]: 'How does this work, the more I buy the worse deal I get?'
.... no reply...

Hehe... who knows.... but cheers anyway!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Actually it's easy to fathom. It's programmed correctly. Often distributors of products find that they have produced a packaging that doesn't go over too well, e.g., a package containing only two cans. Depending on how many of these packages they run, they may find themselves with lots of beer reaching it expiry dates because most only buy a single can (foreign labourer, for instance) or a 3-pack (specially made for duty-free applications where the traveler is allowed one litre of beer ( three 330 ml cans) and others tend to buy a six-pack (traditional packaging aside from the slab (carton containing 24 cans) of beer. Therefore, in order to move the products off the shelves rather than have a lot of beer that they cannot sell, they heavily discount those packages until they move the stocks. The person who broke a 6-pack, if found out, would probably get her arse reamed by the manager and if she's the manager, if caught doing that by the distributor, could lose their patronage. It's a common enough ploy if you have ever worked in any food outlet.

[JR8]

I take your point in the case of small multi-packs (say 2-packs) vs say 6-packs, but the 'offer px for two' is on two single loose tins... i.e. most likely simply 6-packs that have been opened and split into singles.

Anyway no big deal, just one of those things that might continue to rather puzzle me
p.s. reminder to self: next time I visit the beer shop take a pair of scissors, and so avoid any debate...