Do they round it up or down for money?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Do they round it up or down for money?

cws82us

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#75003 11-Jan-2011 16:46

Pay 54c for an icecream and they say they rounding it up to 60c can they do this? Or they cannot do this? What can I do about it?

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#426199 11-Jan-2011 16:48

It depends on the business. Most business will use "Swedish Rounding" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_rounding):

- round down to the nearest 10 cent value for sales ending in 1c, 2c, 3c, 4c;
- round up to the nearest 10 cent value for sales ending in 6c, 7c, 8c, 9c;
- It is up to the business to decide if they will round 5c intervals up or down.

Rounding should be ok when paying cash, but it shouldn't be applied if using an electronic transfer payment, which can handle the exact change.

cws82us

788 posts

Ultimate Geek

#426202 11-Jan-2011 16:51

I paying by cash. It's 54c but they like to round it up to 60c I think that's unfair. So I say forget it.

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rscole86

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#426215 11-Jan-2011 17:14

cws82us: I paying by cash. It's 54c but they like to round it up to 60c I think that's unfair. So I say forget it.

As freitasm has pointed out, business' can decide on their own rounding, and decide who they want as customers. Just as you can decide where you shop. If you are not happy with it, then you do not have to buy off them.

IMO it is not right for a business to round up to the nearest 10c, they should round to the closest 10c, unless ofcourse paying by eftpos then no rounding should apply.

As to what you can do about it, you just did what you can do. Either pay for it, or not.

You probably would have been better paying the 'extra' 10c and buy the icecream, rather than post here. How much did this post cost you?

mentalinc

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#426248 11-Jan-2011 18:54

pay by credit card and screw them over (if they dont have limits on transaction amount).

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NonprayingMantis

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#426250 11-Jan-2011 18:58

where the hell are you buying a 54c ice cream from?

cws82us

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#426251 11-Jan-2011 18:59

I work at Mcdonalds and get 10% off

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nakedmolerat

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#426253 11-Jan-2011 19:02

cws82us: I work at Mcdonalds and get 10% off

so the ice cream cost 60 cents?

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johnr

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#426256 11-Jan-2011 19:06

cws82us: I work at Mcdonalds and get 10% off

Maybe you need to speak to your manager

rvangelder

352 posts

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#426304 11-Jan-2011 21:21

Boss: Hey, you can buy a 60c ice cream and get a 10% discount

Worker: 54c! Sweet deal. I'll buy one!

Boss: We round up to the nearest 10c. That'll be 60c please.

Worker: oh :C

Boss: *evil laugh*

bazzer

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#426384 12-Jan-2011 09:02

So macdonalds in general round up? Or they are just rounding up in this instance to stop you taking advantage of your discount? I'm sure they would use Swedish rounding normally.

wellygary

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#426402 12-Jan-2011 09:23

bazzer: So macdonalds in general round up? Or they are just rounding up in this instance to stop you taking advantage of your discount? I'm sure they would use Swedish rounding normally.

I might be mistaken but I'm fairly sure that McD's have all their price points set at 10c intervals and thus don't need to round for the public,

mattwnz

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#426544 12-Jan-2011 15:11

When I was at a supermarket, I was charged a total of $6.05. If I paid cash, I would only pay $6.00, so they seem to round down if it is 5 cents or lower, and I assume they will round up if it is over 6 cents. Companies that have a high turnover would make a lot more money, if they rounded everything up to the nearest 10 cents.

bazzer

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#426765 13-Jan-2011 10:03

mattwnz: When I was at a supermarket, I was charged a total of $6.05. If I paid cash, I would only pay $6.00, so they seem to round down if it is 5 cents or lower, and I assume they will round up if it is over 6 cents. Companies that have a high turnover would make a lot more money, if they rounded everything up to the nearest 10 cents.

Or they might use bankers rounding...

rvangelder

352 posts

Ultimate Geek

#426790 13-Jan-2011 11:25

bazzer: Or they might use bankers rounding...

Funny thing that bankers rounding. I never really knew about it until recently. It accounts for many of the $0.01 differences I observe when reconciling interfaced systems.

Satch

1985 posts

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#426816 13-Jan-2011 12:23

I guess I get paid too much as I don't worry about whether I'm occasionally going to be charge +/- 9 cents for something that I pay cash for that is not in a 10 cent multiple already...

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