Do You Hang Around For 1P Change?

[Cloverjo]

I bought something for £6.99 today and gave the cashier £7. I felt embarrassed about hanging around for my penny change, but I'm not sure that saying "keep the 1p" or "put it in the charity box" would have been much better. What to do?

[queenofmean]

Depends what mood I'm in.

But I'm the shop we get a lot of people who say just stick it in one of the boxes. I've had people refuse 50odd pence change too.

[Georgiesmum]

Tell them to put the 1p in the charity box and then put an extra £1 in the charity box as well, after all whats £1 now anyway., most people can afford £1
for a good cause.

[rockyracoon]

Depends on the shop. A big chain store, I'll definitely take it, a small store I just walk away without taking the change or stick it in the charity pot that is always by the till.

[Mamyalynne]

Same as Rocky, depends on the store and of course whether there is a charity box there.

[Jackdaw33]

There are two explanations for such pricing, both equally valid IMO.
One is that paying £6.99 looks like £6 when it is in fact £7.

Another is that in pre-decimal days and simple cash registers items would be priced at 19/11 rather than £1. This meant that the assistant had to open the till, put the money in and give you 1d change. If the cost was £1 then no change being required, the assistant need not open the till and pocket the £1.

[Old_Geezer]

They shouldn't have kept you hanging around; you were entitled to a receipt anyway.

[Smowball]

I do exactly the same as rocky

[Cloverjo]

Thanks for your answers, everyone. The cashier did ask me if I wanted a receipt. I said no. I wish I'd just left the shop right then.
I'll do that next time.

What's with the asking if you want your receipt, by the way? A new supermarket has opened near me, and the cashiers always ask if you want the receipt. It can't be to save paper because the tills print it out anyway, and the cashier chucks in a bin if you say no.

[Jackdaw33]

I've often wondered that. Sainsbury's do it but Morrison's don't.

[Cloverjo]

Just thinking about that. I guess lots of people take the receipt and then throw it on the ground, or chuck it in a bin but the wind takes it.

[Jackdaw33]

Actually I think it's a good idea always to say yes. A few years ago I went to Morrison's and bought, inter alia, a bottle of gin. I used the self checkout, where a supervisor has to authorise sales of alcohol. This she did and I thought no more about it. When I got home I discovered that she hadn't taken off the security cap so I couldn't open the bottle. I don't know why the alarm didn't go off as I left the store. I took it back and they were very iffy until I managed to produce the receipt.

[Mamyalynne]

I always take a receipt, just in case.

[DarceyK123]

I always get a receipt so get the odd change as well but I usually put it in the charity box.

I always take the receipt just in case, I even ask for it in the petrol station in case I get accused of driving off without paying.

[Buenchico]

I was very grateful that I'd kept my receipt when the Woolwich Building Society managed to lose the £35K I'd given them to pay off my mortgage, resulting in them trying to repossess my house for not making regular mortgage payments!

[Jackdaw33]

Talking of watching the pennies, when the 1/2p was withdrawn, if the price of a pint was an odd number of pence a member of my club would order a pint (he drank halves) and would ask the bar staff just to pour a half and he would come back later for the second half. This was to save 1/2p.

[Hopkirk]

"Keep the change" means you are giving it as a tip, so you can't say that. I always take the penny. Leaving it in the till would make the cashier's money wrong.

[mikey4444]

I always ask the shopkeeper to put the penny into the charity box.

One penny makes no difference to me, but lots of them will make a huge difference to the charities

[ummmm]

I rarely pay by cash...

Hopkirk - they only care about their tills being down, not up.

[Peter Pedant]

// Building Society managed to lose the £35K //

yeah I went into a lawyers with a deposit - Cheque £20k - and the clerk said - we dont normally give receipts for cheques
and I said - this is the first day of the rest of your life - you start giving receipts for cheques
and yes I was involved in litigation about whether I had paid ....

I have also asked for a receipt - OK then I want a receipt for a bit of paper I have given you that is purporting to be a cheque for £25k ..... .....
and yes I do ask for 1p

£1 now buys what 10p did on the day of decimalisation ( 1971 or whenever ) - and I reflect on that each time I ask for 1p
( oh has anyone heard it called - "wun punts" ? )
[ and £1 in 1971 bought what 10p ( 2/- actually) bought in....
1914]

[Peter Pedant]

// I rarely pay by cash... //
i thought sweeties at my local sweet shop were a bit pricey
and then i found they were whacking on 50p for each card transaction !

so I keep cash

[soon to be made unlawful]