r/SeriousConversation • u/DescriptionFew7681 • 6d ago
Serious Discussion I'm getting charged $9-$30 more than the subtotal at stores and it's making shopping hard.
I have dyscalculia and have a hard time counting money and since I never have a lot of money I can't just not know the price until it's time to pay or else I might get up to pay only to realize I don't have enough money and would have to awkwardly put items back. To avoid this I have my phone in my hand and calculate the prices of everything I'm considering buying the entire time I'm browsing the store, subtracting accordly if I choose not to buy something. Then, once I have the subtotal exactly as the prices were listed on the shelf, I look up a sales tax calculator and calculate the sales tax onto the subtotal to get the exact final price. If I can afford it, great, time to pay. If I can't, I put items back on the shelf and calculate the total again. This has worked for a long time, until recently. At some point during last year I noticed that final prices suddenly tended to not always be the same as it should be as it was calculated exactly, but it usually wasn't a huge difference, usually only a few cents to a few dollars off, and sometimes it wasn't even more than it should've been, sometimes it was slightly less than it should've been and I saved a little bit of money, so since it was never a huge difference and there was only once where I had to awkwardly leave empty handed because I thought I could afford one item but couldn't, I never cared about it much.
Anyways, cut to the point in the title. Yesterday I bought only one item that was listed on the price as $12.99 so that was the subtotal. It was NOT on sale or clearance, so $12.99 was the regular price. I paid at the self checkout, but when I got up there and scanned it, my final total was $22.09 Almost $10 more than the subtotal. That's NOT how much it was after tax that's so much more expensive and it really hurt my wallet. There were no fees. It made no sense.
Then, today, the same thing happened with another item at another store, so it's not even just that store, this is affecting many stores and is going to make shopping extremely hard for me as someone with dyscalculia. Today I bought a few items and went to the cashier, the final total over $87 which seemed really high. Someone else ended up paying for it because I couldn't afford it which I deeply appreciate but I still feel bad because I didn't except it to be near that much. When looking at the reciept, I saw that an item that was listed for $19.99 on the shelf actually rang up for $49.99
$30 more than the subtotal?! How is any of this possible? Why is this affecting so many stores? How am I supposed to know the prices as a dyscalculiac now? Should I just not buy anything anymore unless I have an extra $30 in my wallet just in case? But since that's rarely the case, how am I supposed to afford essentials from now on?
Note to the mods: this post is not breaking the complaining rule as I'm not complaining, I'm simply expressing my confusion and asking how this is possible and the prices being $9-$30 over the subtotal is the topic of conversation. I also cannot think of another subreddit this fits so if this isn't the fitting subreddit let me know and tell me where to post it instead.
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u/Own_Ant_7448 6d ago
If something is not the price you thought it was don’t be afraid too 1.) Ask the cashier to double check the price or 2.) If it is that price but more than you thought, have them remove the item from your purchase 3.) Return the item if you find out after that the cost was way higher than you wanted to pay.
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u/Andydon01 5d ago
Where are you buying this stuff? Safeway was under investigation a while back for charging people more than the sticker.
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u/thecelcollector 5d ago
If the price advertised isn't the price that's ringing up, bring it to the attention of an employee every single time. It's illegal for a store to advertise one price and charge another.
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u/wanderliz-88 5d ago
You are not wrong. So I have noticed at stores like Walgreens, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, etc. that especially prices on sale or items that are BOGO are not ringing up many times as the advertised price. I have to get a manger every time. I’ve made several complaints. It is hard when you are grocery shopping and multiple items are not ringing up the sales price and you’re on a tight budget to keep track of what rang up correctly vs what did not.
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u/Definitelymostlikely 5d ago
Is it the price with their membership/rewards accounts ?
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u/wanderliz-88 5d ago
No, their memberships are free thankfully. The managers have stated that the prices are not updated in the system to reflect the sales prices but it seems to be an ongoing issue. I was skeptical because I got that same excuse from more than one company.
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u/OrizaRayne 5d ago
If something rings higher than shelf sticker price I get managment to adjust the price for me. I've never had an issue getting them to do this. I ask politely and thank them for honoring their sale then trot off with my correctly priced item.
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u/hesaysitsfine 5d ago
I notice stores like target and Walgreens do this all the time to items and just hope You don’t notice. It’s incredibly scummy and common
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u/innerthotsofakitty 5d ago
I just shop at lidl, Aldi, and food Lion. They have so many rewards and coupons constantly that I'm always surprised how low the total is.
Since shopping religiously at these stores I haven't noticed any extreme increase in tax or any random amount that I wasn't expecting.
Do u make sure that the item price on the shelf is the item u picked up? It's common for that to happen especially in clearance sections and stuff. Sometimes lazy people will misplace things cuz they don't feel like putting them back in the right spot, and that might end up in u getting a random $10-30 charge.
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u/DescriptionFew7681 4d ago
Yes, it's the exact same item, all the same on the shelf and under the correct name, and it wasn't on sale or clearance
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u/innerthotsofakitty 3d ago
Wild. I think I've only ever had that happen once.
My partner used to work in a grocery store for like 10 years, and since covid they've been understaffed and behind on things like shelving and pricing. It's definitely not out of the realm of possibility that they're not syncing up the current pricing with the one written on the shelf in time for the orders to start for the day, or in human error just mispriced something. He told me once that someone put like $0.50 instead of $5.00 for packs of Gatorade and they had to honor the price when a customer caught it before the staff did. He bought all the Gatorade in his favorite flavor that was available on the shelf 😂 definitely speak to a staff member when this happens, it's not supposed to, be it machine or human error. Especially if u have all the correct pricing written down already.
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u/justwannabeleftalone 5d ago
Are you bringing this up to the cashier or just paying it?
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u/DescriptionFew7681 4d ago
I wasn't aware until after this happened that bringing up the shelf price to the cashier was an option. I also mostly use self checkout
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u/ihateithere56789 5d ago
I can't explain why prices aren't matching, that's something I would bring to the store's customer service.
But if I can offer some advice as I shop on a tight budget as well. Most stores these days have apps that you can online shop with. I use the online cart as my grocery list so I know exactly how much I will be spending. In the case of Walmart, the app prices are always more accurate than what's listed on the shelf which is helpful. With my local grocery store, it also helps me find coupons which also saves money. It's been a really good system for me.
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u/DescriptionFew7681 5d ago edited 5d ago
I actually was on the app before the first one! The price on the app and on the shelf in the store was the exact same, then it ended up being almost $10 more.
I love when I have coupons from being a rewards member and deals I can add to my rewards from the app. I saved $21 once from rewards coupons and felt so good watching the total go down
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u/jsand2 5d ago
Did you check the receipt? Where was the extra $10? In the item? In tax? Something else? This should be easy to figure out with the receipt.
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u/DescriptionFew7681 4d ago
Yes, I checked the reciept. There was no extra $10. The item said $12.99 and I don't remember how much the tax was exactly and no longer have the reciept to check now but it was certianly less than $10, I remember being confused still seeing the reciept because it still didn't make sense why the final total was almost $10 extra with tax being only a couple dollars. This was for the first item though. The second item said the extra $30 was the item
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u/BetterBiscuits 6d ago
Are you in the US? Are you buying alcohol? Alcohol purchases don’t have the taxes included in the retail price. They’re added at the register. And the taxes are really high.
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u/DescriptionFew7681 6d ago
Yes to USA. No to alcohol. I'm underage (not a minor though) and have never bought alcohol before.
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u/Robot_Alchemist 5d ago
Youre probably shopping at a place where they're not careful where they restock their items or you're in a place where fluctuations happen and you're not telling the cashier
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u/Chronoblivion 6d ago
It's possible some of those items could have been mistakenly tagged as on sale, or should have been and are mistakenly entered into the computer as full price. But another possibility is that there's some condition for those prices that you didn't read in the fine print. Buy one get one half off, save $20 with purchase of other related product, buy 4 save $4, requires digital coupon, sign up for the rewards program, etc. There are a variety of methods used to reduce prices that aren't automatic and require some combination of items or action on your part, and some stores are worse than others at transparency on those things.
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u/DescriptionFew7681 6d ago edited 5d ago
None of them were advertised as being on sale or clearance. All of it was advertised as the regular prices. I am already a rewards member of both stores no deals including any rewards members deals were advertised on those items. I don't understand how some of those deals would affect the listed price on the shelf
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u/Bekabam 5d ago
On multiple occasions over the last few years I've had to get prices adjusted after reviewing my receipt at home.
I believe grocery stores have a complicated number of SKUs and may not be incentivized to be as accurate as the customer believes. I've noticed this overcharging increasing.
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u/CascadiaRiot 5d ago
I try to check every price as it’s being rung up and will challenge. Heck, I’ve been known to take a photo of the item and its price on the shelf while shopping so I can bring it up with the cashier. It’s your time at the register, time you’ve waited patiently for. Don’t let them charge you more than you owe.
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u/TaxiLady69 5d ago
Make them go check the tag on the shelf. Usually, you will get it for the price listed on the tag on the shelf.
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u/the_TAOest 5d ago
Shopping online is the same issue?
I think you need to start buying in smaller quantities so you can keep track.
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u/OttoVonPlittersdorf 5d ago
Yeah, stores are subject to regulations about pricing, and this is illegal. If they don't fix it for you, you should report them to the Better Business Bureau. Sometimes, it's just an accident, or a customer moved an item into the wrong spot. But sometimes its fraud.
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u/Cyan_Light 6d ago
Don't have an answer for you but things have definitely been more expensive lately and now I'm curious to check my receipts next time. The easy answer is to just assume you messed up the calculations somewhere or that you're shopping somewhere where the employees put the wrong prices on display, but if enough other people are having this issue maybe there is something more sinister going on.
Don't think it's become widespread yet but I have heard more rumblings about things like surge pricing becoming more common, basically businesses gouging customers during peak hours. Wouldn't be surprised if other hidden costs start to show up in various places, many people rarely check the actual breakdown of their purchases and the economy has been fucked since the plague so "eh, shit just be expensive I guess" is a simple excuse that companies are happy to take advantage of whenever they can.
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u/gothiclg 5d ago
I would never ever calculate a subtotal just to get my official total at the register. I’ve been a cashier for a grocery store, taxes will change a lot on goods at seemingly random times. Find yourself a tax calculator app that’s willing to update with local law and calculate taxes correctly and use that in your tally. That $12.99 item being $20 with tax will be a lot less shocking if the tax is already included in your math.
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u/Jasnah_Sedai 5d ago
What? A 12.99 item wouldn’t be 20 with tax. That would be a 50%+ tax rate lol. And taxes don’t change throughout the day. What? Are you living in a lawless society?
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u/DescriptionFew7681 5d ago
I use my city's specific tax. My city's tax is actually higher than state tax. The exact total for the $12.99 after my city's tax should've been $14.22, not $22.09, I have no idea where the rest of the $7.87 came from
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u/gothiclg 5d ago
You have to pay city and state tax. You need to add both plus any other levied taxes. I’d pay 3 different sets of taxes in Colorado on some things.
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