Since I don't know what the sticker says, how can I know if it's likely to be their sticker or not?

Don't they have discount stickers where you shop?

It's not like it has a logo on it

Because discount stickers are everywhere.

And because, otherwise, why would I post the picture at all?

Buying Nutella is hardly something to be proud of.

Discount stickers tend to be rare. Usually they just put the price on the shelf and it scans at the lower price in the till

"why eating salad makes you old"

is there any line spammers haven't tried yet?

I have no idea why you posted the picture?

But only some products get the discount, such as the ones approaching their expiration date.

Or products that are moved to some kind of discount bin.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Because I saved 35% on lots of Nutella!

@Cerberus yes, we have those. But they're relatively rare.

@Cerberus yay?

Yay!

I got $24 worth of olive oil for $8 the other day

Yay too!

Not with imminent expiry?

If there is such a thing for unopened olive oil...

the bottles were on sale, but the computer rang up the wrong price, so the Consumer Scanning Code of Practice kicked in, which meant I got one bottle for free and the other at the sale price

Huh.

How does that work?

@Jez Yes, but that's only because they haven't finished yet. Eventually every possible English sentence will be on a spam filter blacklist.

@Cerberus That grocery store, and many others, have a posted code of practice, where if an item scans at the wrong price, you get the first one free (up to $10 off) and the rest at the posted price.

That sounds good! We don't have that. But why?

I've played that to my advantage, where my wife discovered a desirable product had the wrong price, and then I went and bought another one and went to a different cashier and got it for free.

@Cerberus why what? why don't you have it? or why do we?

I suspect we have it because the industry wants to put forth a nice-looking customer-focused face to prevent further government intrusion into pricing/scanning practices. Or maybe it's an example of them actually doing something nice because it's nice.

Is it because shops may actually intentionally scan the wrong price?

I am asking because I don't really see the necessity. Of course it is nice, for you, but...

@Cerberus Well, they are prohibited by law from doing so. But I suppose they might try to get away with it?

Possibly this code of practice is forced on the stores to increase the chances that customers will notice and report this problem (and also to force recording of price overrides and free items) .

Sometimes a corporation's policies might be customer-friendly but the actual staff are not.

So you have situations like convenience stores where there is a posted sign that says "if you don't get a receipt, your purchases are free"

That is meant to enlist customer aid in preventing employee theft.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Of course it would be a kind of fraud in any jurisdiction. But I am not aware of this ever happening here on purpose; if they did that, it would not go unnoticed or unpunished.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Hmm that is a reason I can understand, because I imagine employee theft could be an actual problem.

@Cerberus If it happened chain-wide, it would be noticed. If it happened in one store, from time to time, on only some items, it might never be noticed.

So is or was misscanning a problem? I ask because it isn't here.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 But everything is automated. The store can't change the system.

One problem I find annoying: a store near me takes down today's sale signs and puts up tomorrow's before the store closes for the day.

Yes, we have that too.

@Cerberus No, everything is not automated. That's just it.

Or, rather, they take down today's signs.

The putting of the stickers on the shelf is not automated.

Only that part is not automated here; but the cashier presses a button every time she scans a 35% product.

But she has no interest whatsoever in defrauding customers that way, and they can and do check that she doesn't as she is scanning the stuff.

@Cerberus Here, the cashier only intervenes if the product has a discount sticker. But every week there are items that are on sale; those have their prices changed in the computer and shelf-stickers and other signage in the store applied by humans.

It is the same here.

But the items on regular sale are automatically scanned correctly by the computer / cash register.

@Cerberus When I am buying $200 in groceries, and also bagging my own (because no stores bag them for you anymore) I certainly am not watching the cashier scan every item and checking that it's the exact price the promised me, if I can even recall the prices.

@Cerberus That is the idea, but there is nothing stopping from a store leaving the "sale" sticker up longer than the sale actually lasts.

Or putting it up early.

Anyway I frequently find mis-priced items.

I see the 35% logo next to products that have it on the screen as she is scanning my products. May not in shops that still have older cash registers. But then I can see it on the receipt.

I'm sure it is as much a problem there as here, because people make mistakes.

@Cerberus are you still talking about that sticker? I am not.

Every week the stores feature a multitude of items whose prices are reduced.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Oh, sure, that is possible. But then lots of people will complain, and there will be queues at the special counter where you can get your manual discount.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I am!

@Cerberus Assuming they notice.

Enough people notice, and it will be more work for the store.

@Cerberus And anyway, the cashier can give you the discount if you notice it before you've paid.

And here, if the store is part of that code, you get one item for free.

@Cerberus More work? maybe. But maybe they end up with a net profit.

I still don't think shops here every cheat customers that way. But still, it's nice for you to have that rule.

And an unscrupulous store could stand to make quite a bit of money that way.

There will be lots of complaints if they do that more than occasionally.

@Cerberus I don't think it's done here either, not on purpose. But mistakes happen.

And lots of people would have to be complicit.

Mistakes, yes.

But not enough to make much of a difference for a store's total profit.

@Cerberus No, it would only take one person to be complicit. The person who causes incorrect signage.

But that person would not do it, because he doesn't get any extra money.

Only the store manager might possibly profit from it significantly.

@Cerberus That depends on how the store's pay structure works.

And he cannot do it on his own.

@Cerberus sure he can. He prints up some labels and hands them to the label boy and says "put these out"

Cashiers and the kids who put the products on the shelves (do they have a name) won't profit from a somewhat higher turnover.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 The label boys and the cashiers will notice.

And the people at the special counter.

@Cerberus The label boys will never notice.

The cashiers will notice if customers notice.

Sure they will: they will be ordered to put up a discount sign with the wrong date.

Enough customers notice.

And there are lots of customers who won't notice. I've missed it on my own groceries. I just don't keep track of the prices of 100 items in my cart.

Most people don't buy that many items!

@Cerberus Who says it has a wrong date? The sign might look totally legit. The problem is when the sign doesn't match the computer.

I would notice most times.

Some people would always notice, others would only sometimes notice.

@Cerberus Are you sure? because here, grocery stores are huge, and people routinely bring home $100 or $200 per week.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Each sign has a date.

The boys take away the sign once the date is up.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Not here.

@Cerberus does it? And so what if it does? The manager can still make a sign that looks legit, but "forget" to update the computer, or whatever.

95+ % shop with a basket.

@Cerberus That could still be easily 50 items.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I don't believe the manager touches the computer!

That is all done centrally, no doubt.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 But it hardly ever is. I see the queues every day. It's more like 10 items.

@Cerberus I'm glad you have no doubts about all of this, and you're certain that this kind of fraud is impossible. Yay! What a utopia you live in.

Hey, I said it was possible.

Just seemed hard to carry out for comparatively little profit.

But perhaps it is easier to pull off in your shops.

Well, having worked in retail, a franchise of a larger network, I can assure you that not everything is done centrally.

If managers can defraud customers, they can also defraud the head office.

It makes more sense to restrict both.

And given the number of times I've found glaring mistakes at the big grocery chain I shop at, I have zero doubt that they could do this as a scam if they wanted to.

Lots of complaints would cause the shop problems!

I see mistakes too.

Too many, and I would become suspicious.

@Cerberus sigh. Your complaint assumption is so unfounded in my experience.

The olive oil thing, for example.

It was a HUGE display. It had been up for some days.

Yet when I bought oil, mid-day, I got my oil for free, because their computer had the wrong price.

And it was $4

I have complained at the special counter and was told "we are very sorry, we have had 100 complaints already, there is an error in the computer".

33%

That's nice.

So how many people bought that same oil and didn't even notice?

Some.

@Cerberus I have never once heard that. Nobody ever mentions how many complaints.

And anyway, each store potentially has different prices than the other stores.

They didn't mention a number. Just "many".

It was clear that the wrong sign was causing them trouble.

@Cerberus Not enough people noticed, for them to fix it though. The cashier didn't even believe me that the oil was on sale.

Weird.

But then you went to the special counter?

Or what is it called.

No, I didn't need to, the cashier fixed it right there.

Where they sell cigarettes and medicines.

Oh.

it's not like that here.

I have also seen enough mistakes to my advantage.

the medicine is sold in the store's pharmacy, or just on the shelf like regular stuff. Cigarettes, they sell in a special boutique downstairs, I think.

Or what I assumed were probably mistakes.

Is there no counter where you go when there is something wrong?

There is usually a counter where they handle complaints, but you only need to go there if you discover a mistake after the transaction is complete

But regardless. There are large stores that flout consumer protection laws.

So anyway, perhaps there is something different about Canadian shops that organised fraud more like? Because it doesn't seem to happen here even though we don't have that rule of yours.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Same here.

It's not a rule, though, it's a voluntary code of practice.

Yeah OK.

The law is clear: if you advertise it for a price, you have to sell it at that price.

A self-imposed rule.

I think the rule is in place to help customers find mistakes and keep managers honest. Otherwise they might try to boost sales of certain items or make extra money which could boost their performance metrics.

But I don't know how much of a problem it would be if there were no rule.

Anyway, we have stores here that are constantly advertising a sale. The "sale" is on all the time, so it's really their regular price, but the present an artificial price as the regular price, even though nobody would ever pay that.

Right.

Of course, we have that too.

Though not in supermarkets.

I have had this tab open for at least a year.

Or this one toy store: they have a sale on all regular-priced lego. But it turns out that all the lego in the store is already marked up past MSRP, then discounted TO the MSRP, and so nothing is really on sale.

heh

They have had "only 1 specimen" since 2012.

The same applies to the "retail price" and the sale price.

yeah that's annoying.

But it's fine. I expected no less in 2012.

are you going to buy it?

Or maybe it was early 2013.

Yes.

when the price drops further?

But I took my time to consider it.

It will NEVER drop further.

This is the one and only price it will ever have.

And ever had.

Call them and offer to take that one last specimen off their hands once and for all.

And elicit a higher discount?

"I'll give you € 499 to take it off your hands

Hehe.

They might accept.

You've had this thing for sale for so long, why not let me have it?

But...it is a present from my parents, for my 30th birthday. (I am 31 now, have been for six months.)

So I care less about the price...and haggling is a bit of a pain.

it would be so funny though, if it were true that they'd had just one for so long and they were actually getting desperate to be rid of it.

Haha.

In theory, it is possible that just noöne buys it ever.

"we marked it down 800 euro and still nobody wants it!?"

Somehow, that seems unlikely!

If they sold that few carpets, wouldn't they be long out of business by now?

Don't companies simply lower the price further if it isn't sold (or remove it from their inventory altogether)?

well, maybe they have other carpets that are moving?

but yeah. rug companies are notorious for lying about sales.

so notorious that the NY Times has special rules for what kinds of ads rug companies can show.

Hmm.

Still, the carpet seems to be of decent quality and the price is good.

And the website is well established, it seems.

I researched it extensively in 2013.

On top of that, it still exists.

that does say something.

In Internet land, a year is an eternity.

indeed

Outside the Internet, I wish some companies would have shorter existences!

Like trolls and monopolists.

> The telegraph line connecting Paris with the rest of France had been cut by the Germans on September 27. On October 6, Leon Gambetta, the Minister of Defense of the Government of National Defense, departed the city by balloon to try to organize national resistance against the Germans.

I like this.

Can you guess when this was?

1870?

I wish facebook had a button that let you vote down re-shares on the basis of "inflammatory bullshit"

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Ding!

What were your cues?

I just read about the Franco-Prussian war because of your earlier comment to @nosmoking

Oh, really?

more specifically, I read the wikipedia page about 1870

and that was the war it mentioned, which didn't seem to last long.

What did I tell him?

I am still reading the article about the Commune of Paris, which is rather long.

To refresh my memory. It's been so long since I had to learn about the Commune...

Hmm perhaps it was my own comment that made me read the Commune article?

lol

I don't remember.

But I am glad that you fact-check my lines...

I wasn't fact-checking. I wanted to know what trauma you meant.

go ahead, name a famous war in Europe. I probably can't remember when it was.

we don't learn that stuff here.

I wouldn't know the exact dates myself.

Example: in studying Canadian history, we touch on the war of 1812. But we never learned that it ended here mainly because the Napoleonic wars ended in Europe at the same time.

Huh.

Man, I'm not even sure the century. 15th?

Beginning or end?

late-15 to early-16 is my guess

14th to 15th century.

there ya go.

Who were the main belligerents?

England and France?

I mean, geez, 14th century. who knows.

Ding!

The Persian Wars?

There were of course many, but the most famous series of wars is what I'm looking for.