The Plus Tax Headache

I miss Japan, but I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. I miss the night life, the safety and the ease of transportation (I already talked about driving in Back Home Again in Indiana), but now that I've been back for awhile, the thing I miss the most is the transparent prices in supermarkets and convenient stores.

I went in to the CVS to pick up something to drink, as one would, and the prices ended in a 7 or an 8. I thought, 'Wow that might be the price at the counter.' Well, no it wasn't, it was the price before tax. It used to always be 9. A 1.99 or .99 cents, but now it's 1.77 on the tag and at the register add 7 percent sales tax to make it a 1.89.

Why can't the tag just say '1.89' and I go to the register and it's a 1.89. Why all the cloak and dagger on tax? In Japan if it read 179 (they don't use decimal points), I would pay a 179 yen for the drink. No smoke and mirrors.

Why is this important to me and you? Because if I see 1.77, I can look in my wallet and find a 1.77 and know I have enough to buy this product. When I go to the counter and now it's 1.89, I have a dollar and eighty-six cents in change, I now have to use my credit card to buy a Snapple peach ice tea.

You know sales tax is 7% so just do the math dummy! Sure that sounds swell, thanks for the advice, but they're a large corporate organization who prints the tags and sends them out to the stores to label the products, why don't they just do it? They put the burden on the consumer to know how much tax will be added at the register. And yes it is easier now with cell phones and smart phones that have calculators, but how many people do you think know how to calculate tax? Probably more than you think. Just for instructional purposes, 1.77 x .07 = .12

Now lets say you need to buy 3 items. One is 6.98, another at 2.97 and the last is the 1.77 Snapple peach ice tea. How is your total including tax?

The break down: 6.98 + 2.97 + 1.77 = 11.72, now times the total by .07, 11.72 x .07 = .82, add that to 11.72 and you get 12.54.

6.98 x .07 = .49 which is 7.47
2.97 x .07 = .21 which is 3.18
1.77 x .07 = .12 which we know is 1.89

And all together it is 12.54. I'll be honest a little part of me thought it might be different and my whole reasoning for wanting transparent tax prices would go out the window. But it's the SAME! So then why not just price it with the taxed amount? What is this game the American retail market is playing with us?

To add all that up to know how much I would be paying before I went to the register was about a five minute process. I even used Siri to help calculate without punching in the all the numbers myself, and even with her I had to jump through some hoops. Here's how it went:

Joshua: What is two dollars and ninety-seven cents times .07?
Siri: Hmm...let me think. The answer is about 0.21 US dollars.
Joshua: What is two dollars and ninety-seven cents plus twenty-one cents?
Siri: Let's see... The answer is 3.18 US dollars.
Joshua: What is three dollars and eighteen cents plus a dollar eighty-nine?
Siri: Checking... The answer is 5.07 US dollars.
Joshua: What is six dollars and ninety-eight cents times .07?
Siri: Let me think about that. The answer is about .49 US dollars.
Joshua: What is six dollars and ninety-eight cents plus forty-nine cents?
Siri: OK let me check that for you. The is answer is 7.47 US dollars.
Joshua: What is the previous total plus that total?
Siri: OK here web results for previous total.
Joshua: No, go back.
Siri: Sorry, I can't help you with that.
Joshua: What is three dollars and eighteen cents plus a dollar eighty-nine?
Siri: Checking... The answer is 5.07 US dollars.
Joshua: What is six dollars and ninety-eight cents times .07?
Siri: Let me think about that. The answer is about .49 US dollars.
Joshua: What is six dollars and ninety-eight cents plus forty-nine cents?
Siri: Checking on that. The is answer is 7.47 US dollars.
Joshua: What is 7.47 US dollars plus the previous total?
Siri: Checking my sources. OK, I found this on the web for 'What is US$7.47 plus the previous total.
Joshua: Damn it!
Siri: Now, now.
Joshua: What is five dollars and seven cents plus seven dollars and forty-seven cents?
Siri: Checking... The answer is about 12.54 US dollars.

So the problem there was she couldn't add it all together. For some reason she kept getting stuck on the US dollars part. When I tried it again using the language, 'What is six point nine eight times point zero seven?' She calculated it, then I said, 'Plus six point nine eight?' She added it to the answer .49. So if you use Siri use numbers and decimals instead of dollars cents.

I mentioned before, Japan doesn't use decimals and 99% of all the stores include tax on their labels. There are a 1% of stores, mostly electronic stores and this one little bakery in Tanimachi yon-choume that add tax after, so if I buy three items at 189, 747 and 318, and don't feel like adding in my head, I can ask Siri, 'What's 189 plus 747 plus 318?' She would reply, '1,254.' Easy. But to be clear, my beef isn't with decimals it is with the label price on the shelf then the plus tax at the register, just add the tax to the label and make everyone's life a little easier. I'm still going to buy it at 1.89, I just want to know t's going to be 1.89 before I go to the register without calculating the price before hand. Yes, technically your store is selling Snapple peach ice tea for 1.77 and the government is making you add a 7% tax on it, but hey man, be cool and just add the tax for us before we have to pay.

I'm not going to hold my breath on this one, and you shouldn't either.

Happy shopping America.

Time heals all wounds or Time gave corporations a way to learn how to take advantage of us in the fine print

I am working on moving back to America in a few weeks and have to cancel all of my subscriptions. Luckily, I only have two; my cell phone and my gym membership. After spending about an hour trying on my cell phone, I learned that I can only cancel on the day I want my service to stop. Yes, I can't quit on the 26th to stop my service on the 1st of May. I have to go back on the 30th to stop service on the 1st of the next month. OK, not a big deal, but a real waste of time for everyone.

Here's where they got me. I signed a two year contract to get an iPhone 4S for 10,000 Yen ($100) three years and a half years ago. I never heard from them after my contract ended, but my service continued at a month by month basis, I thought, but they told me today, after my contract ended they automatically renewed my two year contract. Now I want to end my service and I have to pay 10,000 Yen cancellation fee.

They explained to me that unless I came in to change my original contract when it ended it was in the contract that it would automatically renew. I asked them how they informed me that my contract was over and they told me by email. Hooray and email to determine my cell phone future for two years.

Yes, I didn't have interrupted service, but it seems a little shady to not have me come in and sign something. And the part that makes me the most upset is not that they gave me a new contract without my renewed permission and now I have to pay for the privilege to end that contract, but I never got the chance to upgrade my 4S to something newer. I've been working with this piece of junk phone for the last year when I could of signed a new contract and got a 5S, probably I'm not sure what the latest model was a year and a half ago, maybe a 6, but a 5S would of been cheaper at the time, especially with more memory. 

This is the same thing that all corporations do. They put fine print in their contracts that can work for those who follow the rules, but for those who need to escape because of special circumstances get screwed out of their hard earned money. Money that could be used to feed their children, feed themselves, get help with depression, get a teeth cleaning, pay their health insurance. Something good, instead of corporate greed. Although, you could argue that those fees go to pay for their companies employees' benefits and expenses.

But those fees are sneaky and back stabbing, and that is why it's wrong. And it is also very legal. Corporations have been able to lobby the legislation for years and years to manipulate the law to be able to hide extra fees, terms and limitations in their contracts to take advantage of people who choose to be your customer.

Is that fair? I don't know. Ethical? No (that's my opinion). Will that $100 matter five years from now? No (or I hope not). Time will heal my financial wounds. I'll make more money, I'll spend more money, get scammed out of money and maybe scam someone out of their hard earned cash (but probably not because I'm not a scumbag and I might not be smart enough to do something like that). Time will also give corporations a way to fortify and keep a stronghold on the fine print to continue taking advantage of our consumer needs.