Serious question about losing the penny

[tvguy]

Friend buys them at Goodwill for like $5. No way would he spend $600 for one.

I did that when my daughter went away to college in 2009. Her roommate had a flat screen TV she was given for free. The tuner was bad but they figured they could watch DVDs because it had a built in DVD player. I hooked up the VCR and they used the VCR tuner. Dorms have come a long way since I was in college. Every room has cable TV.

 

[bcla]

Disneyland is the only place I have seen restaurants include tax. Only reason I have even paid attention is that I am on the board of directors of a civil group that meets for lunch, and we have used three different restaurants in the past few years. We have between 40 and 100 people per lunch. The current restaurant does NOT add automatically add gratuities, nor did the one before. But the restaurant we used until before those two did, and they calculated the 18% tip on the total AFTER sales tax. That can add close to $20 to the tip just on the sales tax on a $1,000 tab. And tip is supposed to be calculated only on the cost of the food, Our Treasurer always made them recalculate it to reflect no tip on the sales tax portion of the bill.

Really? I think most restaurants in Disneyland charge sales tax, although some of the stands might have it included to simplify payments. I looked up a few more recent receipt copies, and there does appear to be separately calculated sales tax.

 

[tvguy]

Just back from shopping. Stopped at a Jewelry Store near our house. Walked in as a woman was peeling off $100 bills to buy something. We were just there for a battery for my wife's watch. Man behind the counter looked at the watch quote a price, and added, we are cash only, no electronic payments of any kind. Never purchased anything but watch batteries there, but I have to admit that is one business that I expected would take credit or debit.

 

[princesscinderella]

Just back from shopping. Stopped at a Jewelry Store near our house. Walked in as a woman was peeling off $100 bills to buy something. We were just there for a battery for my wife's watch. Man behind the counter looked at the watch quote a price, and added, we are cash only, no electronic payments of any kind. Never purchased anything but watch batteries there, but I have to admit that is one business that I expected would take credit or debit.

Maybe they were burned with too many CC chargebacks by customers that they made that policy.

 

[tvguy]

Maybe they were burned with too many CC chargebacks by customers that they made that policy.

Well, unless the store was defrauding customers, I would expect the credit card companies to decline the charge backs after their investigation.

 

[princesscinderella]

Well, unless the store was defrauding customers, I would expect the credit card companies to decline the charge backs after their investigation.

While that may be the case the extra paperwork and time involved in fighting chargebacks can be enough to turn someone off from accepting them. The CC companies also immediately take the money out of the business account when a customer files a chargeback, they don’t wait until after the investigation. It’s up to the business to prove that they made the sale of the goods/service in question to get the money put back in their account. It’s definitely rare to see cash only business anymore.

 

[tvguy]

While that may be the case the extra paperwork and time involved in fighting chargebacks can be enough to turn someone off from accepting them. The CC companies also immediately take the money out of the business account when a customer files a chargeback, they don’t wait until after the investigation. It’s up to the business to prove that they made the sale of the goods/service in question to get the money put back in their account. It’s definitely rare to see cash only business anymore.

Cash only businesses aren't really rare, especially mom and pop operations that deal in inexpensive things like donuts and burgers. A jewelry store caught my attention as they sell many big ticket items. Although my daughter was surprised when she bought her car that the dealer would only take cash or check, no form of electronic payment at all, for the down payment.