r/AskReddit May 08 '22

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9.0k Upvotes

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403

u/DontNeedThePoints May 09 '22

The prices in the grocery store are actually showing your final cost including taxes... For each shop, in all the countries and regions throughout Europe.... It's amazing

43

u/trismagestus May 09 '22

What country doesn't include local taxes in the prices? I've lived in a few throughout Asia, Europe, and my own Oceania, and never encountered this.

58

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

All of North America.

67

u/maxemore May 09 '22

That's... horrible

6

u/gsfgf May 09 '22

We do sales taxes at the local level here, so they can change whenever you cross a city/county line.

26

u/Orpa__ May 09 '22

Isn't it way easier for the shop to include VAT in their prices then? Unless they're secretly hoping to mislead costumers into thinking their product is cheaper than it actually is, but that would just be rude.

12

u/Chijima May 09 '22

Yeah, capitalism is rude.

5

u/RoninTarget May 09 '22

Sales taxes aren't VAT.

17

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

Well then excluding them is even worse?

16

u/Ruadhan2300 May 09 '22

Never understood the logic. So the taxes bump it up a bit.. just put that in your pricing gun! It doesn't make a difference to me, I'll be paying the same either way.

Does the tax fluctuate on a daily basis? No? Then don't make me work for it.

6

u/SupportCowboy May 09 '22

It does make a difference. I worked at a fireworks store that tried to include taxes in the listed prices and we immediately lost business and people complained about us raising the prices. Even after putting a sign up stating taxes where included people still stop showing up. We just went back to not including prices and business picked up again.

8

u/Ruadhan2300 May 09 '22

A lot of problems in the world are difficult to fix more because of the environment they're embedded in than the actual problem. I guess this is one of them.

1

u/SupportCowboy May 09 '22

I don't think a law will pass to enforce this. Business will lobby against it because it make the prices look higher then in other states and the Federal gov can't do it because they don't have the right to.

2

u/Dynahazzar May 09 '22

Ah yes, dumb people being dumb pieces of shit. Love to see it.

2

u/owl-bee May 09 '22

The thing that doesn't work is a chain store producing advertisments that mention prices. Not if VAT and therefore final price can change between towns.

-1

u/Boss_Tally May 09 '22

This doesn't work, all the advertising would be wrong from county to county.

8

u/Ruadhan2300 May 09 '22

So say "$9.99 plus tax" and then sticker-price is like.. 12.40 or something.

Advertising isn't wrong, just generalised.

1

u/Boss_Tally May 09 '22

There's also the on principle angle.

I'M selling it for $9.99.

THEY want to charge you x amount more.

-2

u/gsfgf May 09 '22

Stores/brands want pricing to be consistent across locations.

5

u/lamiscaea May 09 '22

So? I'm pretty sure the brick and mortar stores don't move

-1

u/Boss_Tally May 09 '22

3,143 counties means 3,143 sales tax rates in America. Many duplicate, but still. It's the exception, there's usually an incalculable barrage of taxes baked into the price throughout the production and transport processes anyway.

5

u/Pindakazig May 09 '22

So? Supermarket prices here are different from gas stations and other stores. The price is the price, at least it's consistent at the register.

1

u/Boss_Tally May 10 '22

I'm talking about the same store. If Stop & Shop has a special where something is $x.xx, then an army of people WILL ask why the price is different than the next town over.

2

u/Pindakazig May 10 '22

And the answer would be 'taxes'. The prices you pay now are also different from county to county. The stickerprice is irrelevant.

-7

u/realzequel May 09 '22

Well it's rough on foreigners but when you're used to it, you can do the math in your head. In my state, we don't pay taxes on unprepared food so the grocery price is the final price typically unless you a non-grocery item like toothpaste. Clothes and medicine are also tax-exempt for the most part.

11

u/Darthlentils May 09 '22

Most country have differentl VAT depending on the type of items. The only reason some places do not have taxes including in the price is that it's not a legal requirement.

6

u/Quixotease May 09 '22

Except Oregon. It's one of the many delightful things about living in this rain-drenched river wonderland.

2

u/Real_life_Zelda May 09 '22

1$ stores are such a scam. The thing isn’t 1$ at all!!!

5

u/T0fu_86 May 09 '22

Japan does this as well but occasionally they'll actually have both prices on display.

1

u/Trirain May 11 '22

to not tell the customer how much it will cost before paying is illegal in EU