h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Been wondering where to put this but....

Have you noticed the different change giving methods? There is two types, coins on top of bank note or coins first notes second.

The first is favoured by people with purses as they open pusre, shoot coins into it and put notes away.

The latter is favoured by those with wallets, coins in pocket, notes in wallet.

The first type is practiced by older woman (more likely to use purses), the latter by older men (wallet and pockets)

Younger people seem to be harder to classify.

When the method is wrong for the customer it causes extra delay.

ChawkE

Yes, this is all perfectly true I have noticed it also (I am a coins in pocket, notes in wallet guy). You forgot to mention the extra factor of the receipt though. The receipt may well come on top of the note, under the coins (in which case it usually ends up in my wallet, fooling me into thinking I have more money than I actually have), or thrusted at you later just as you were about to walk away, feeling pleased with yourself at having escaped the burden of carrying a recipt.

The most annoying thing is when you are making single item purchases that come in at something ninety-nine. You count out the change, and then get given a receipt with a penny on top of it. I usually end up screwing up the receipt with the penny inside it, so my pockets are pull of wrapped pennies!

Unfortunately, shopkeepers have yet to tune in to my prefferred method, so I get given the change placed on top. And what with having to scoop the change out of its comfy bed of note(s), squirrel away the note(s), and deal with the reciept (usually by shoving it down inside the bag), after removing the 1p piece form on top, my effort to look cool in shops is completely ruined. I can feel the thousand staring eyes of the impatient punters queueing up behind me drilling into the back of my neck as I perform this wierd, elaborate, shuffling ballet in front of the billigerent sales assisstant.
Call me neurotic, but could shy young males like me with no co-ordination, unable to face "the gauntlet" of change recieving, unwittingly bring the economy to a halt?

I don't know how common they are in the UK, but how about those automatic coin dispensers they've had in US supermarkets for decades? Since I'm left-handed and the coin dispenser is usually on the right I can take the notes in my left hand, scoop up the coins from the little bowl in my right hand, dump the coins in my right pocket, grab my wallet at the same time (yes I keep it in my right pocket), place the notes into it with my left hand and then return it to my pocket with the right. Goes really smooth.

Incidentally, I usually grasp the notes between my index and middle finger. That way if the receipt is on top, I can slide it over and up with my thumb and hold it between thumb and index finger while I slide the notes into the wallet. When I lift my hand from the wallet I'm still holding the receipt, which I can then drop into whichever grocery bag I take with my left hand.

Wibble!, coin dispensers? never seen them outside the Londo Tube (subway, underground, sess pit, whatever), never in shops. Why? do they think USA shop assistants are so dense they cannot count the right change or is it a sercurity thing?

ChawkE

I don't know if it's a generation thing but doesn't it annoy you when you give the "odd" change ie. £5.02 for an item costing £4.52 so as you get 50p back and the shop assistant looks at you as if to say "You've given me too much - are you mad?".
My answer is that I am not mad but they are SAD. The saddest thing is when they then have to ring that amount into the till to find out how much change they have to give back.

Yes, all shopkeepers seem possessed by this pathological need to type in the numbers, even if the sum is something like £10 for a book costing £9.99. I suppose every sale has to be registered, to get the receipt out .. or something like that.

The coin dispensers in US supermarket checkouts have been around since the 1950s (and the design and technology of them doesn't seem to have changed much). I think their primary intent is speed rather than security or whatever.

Note that in the US, due to varying state tax regulations, you need to have a knowledge of the local tax laws and a good head for math to calclate beforehand what you're going to pay over and above what's printed on the price tags of your purchases.

It's easy to have a purchase come out to really weird numbers like $3.31, so I hand over a five-dollar bill and instead of the checker having to count out a one-dollar bill, two quarters, one dime, one nickel and four pennies they know they can just grab the $1 bill out of the register while the dispenser automatically dumps the coins into the little round bowl (which I'm sure is deliberately designed to jingle to call your attention to it).

people don't use the till to avoid making maths errors: it's so that the managers know how much merchandise they've sold. It also helps them to reduce employee theft. In supermarkets, they use it for stock control too.

So think twice before slagging people off as dimwits - they can probably do better mental arithemtic than you...

You talk like employee theft is a bad thing...

I would disagree Lucinda, with criteria, those shop assistants (in the UK) over about 40 that went to schools where they taught real maths probably can.

THe majority under 30 (leaving the grey area of 30-40) simpky cannot add up - I heard one teenager shouting to his mum "What 2 3:99s?" this lack of ability is getting worse.

In my favorite pub they have no till just an open tray of cash, the staff have to learn fast and it is hard for the younger ones.

ChawkE

I'm a wallet guy, but I like the change given with coins on top of bills. Then it gets folded in half, coins and all, and dumped in the pocket. I sort it all out at some other point. After all, who can be bothered to organize it all there? har har.

Does anyone ever get the checkout person who slowly pulls out each bill, making it obvious what change is there, and then they go through the same process, counting out each bill for you, as if you're an idiot and totally oblivious to any of your surroundings.

An interesting game might be to keep feigning ignorance and asking them to recount it out for you. See how many times you can do it before the cashier or a fellow customer blows up (incidentally, packing C4 on them tends to make them blow up; just don't be anywhere near).

Okay, I'm getting off-topic now - better go.

I'm a student and I work on tills during holidays. Being at University as I am, I can add up. The whole point of tapping the numbers into tills at national and multinational supermarkets *is* to register how much money passes through the checkouts. It *is* also used for stock control purposes. It *does* help combat employee theft.

If we, the checkout operators, did not tap the numbers in moronically, we would be disciplined for not adhering to the company's regulations. It is as simple as that. It's not "SAD", Lady In A Tree, it's what is known as "a contractual obligation".

And just for the record - once the numbers have been tapped in, the till opens, and the till operator must count out the change. Here comes the test. If they really are as stupid as some of you guys have made out, this would be a real problem.

It's not. I assure you everyone in my supermarket can work out which coin to give you, should you spend £10 on a £9.99 purchase. Once again, Lucinda is absolutely spot on.

Sorry to sound so anal, but this is something close to my heart. I'm 20 years old, and I can assure you the majority of us aren't dumb. Just stickin' up for everyone.......

"Have a nice day!"
M@x

Generally speaking, I've always gone for coins into hand, notes on top across fingers (this is when working as a checkout operator). That way, it's a piece of p**s to grasp the note and put it wherever you like (pocket/purse/wallet etc), and you can still slide the coins off the palm of your hand.

When the coins are on top, you have less control over them, because of the paper between them and your skin. it's a bit like peeling a banana whilst wearing boxing gloves. But not much. Anyway, this is just my take on it.

My god, I really *am* sounding anal today. Sorry folks

Bit of rant about pricing:

Firstly to expand on Lucinda's point about employee theft. This is the reason for things costing 99p. It forces the employee to ring the transaction through the till and provide change. If said item just cost £1, employee could pocket the money once the customer walks away. I question though whether this is still necessary in today's age of cheques and debit/credit cards / security cameras. Probably is.

I find this technique of pricing things at a few pence lower than a whole number rather irritating when it comes to large purchases. For example, I was looking at cookers yesterday - £339-95. Why not £340. Do the sales people think I will buy it just because it isn't quite £340, but appears to be in the £330s range? Houses, cars same thing £7995 instead of £8000.

BBS

I almost always use a credit card at the super market even for purchases below £5, although usually above £1. (How irritating is that for the other people in the queue?) ....

What I find annoying is that the checkout operator insists on gathering together my credit card, the till receipt and the credit slip before handing them back to me. So what you may think?

Well each of these 3 items has their own place in my wallet and therefore while the operator is waiting for the receipts to print, I could be putting my credit card away. Instead I end up standing there for about 30 seconds, blocking the checkout, and the operator is not allowed to start on the next customer until I've taken my stuff off the checkout. All in all everybody loses.

BBS

Yes, the pricing of things a few pence under a sensible amount gets to me as well. The problem with marketing is that supermarkets (and everywhere else) will most likely continue to do so, until someone comes up with conclusive *proof* that nobody cares. In the meantime, I suspect we'll continue to be patronised in this way.

Actually, "patronised" is a bit strong. Sorry supermarkets.

On the subject of credit/debit cards, I must say I'm terrible for using my Switch on small purchases. It comes from being a student, in my case.

A lot of the time, the main receipt is printed out *before* the checkout assistant says "sign here please". So they'll automatically put your card together with the first receipt (to cause less hassle for them) before they can give it back to you.

It's a very good point though - the whole card/receipt thing. I'll try to remember that for when I go back this summer, as I'm sure you're not alone in this.

Okay - here's a new one...... No matter how long it takes for the person in front to get out of the way after they've paid, it's really annoying when the till operator starts sending your stuff down the belt, before the previous person has moved to give you space........

on the subject of paying by card, recently my signiture got unreadable, and only one shop assistant actually noticed (Sainsbury's) all the others totaly failed to check it. I was tempted to try a bit a fraud - that ain't my signiture, no honest, never bought that diamond encrusted cat collar, gov.

ChawkE

You're right, "patronised" *is* a bit strong. Isn't it *us* that patronise *them*...?

Depends on how you want to define patronising--either you're a patron of an establishment, or you're being very annoying...