My parents met in an accounting class at college. My dad currently works as a VP of Finance for a non-profit group and my mom used to work in a bank. Any financial questions I have I go directly to them. At an early age, I was taught the importance of a decimal point in a price tag and how to spot incorrectly priced merchandise.
Mom and Pop Quiz: Which of the following is the cheapest?
A. $.50 used paperback book
B. $50 used paperback book
C. .50¢ used paperback book
D. $.50 used Nicholas Sparks book
Answer: C (although I will give credit if you answered D)
Wow! Half a penny for a book! What a great deal!
Sadly, I keep seeing this mistake more and more. Every time, I die a little inside. (Nashville, Indiana has a plethora of price tags marked for under a penny in many stores. I nearly had a heart attack one Thanksgiving when I was down there with my grammar-Nazi roommate. She shared my pain.) Now, technically I could argue with the cashier and demand the price as marked but if the people putting up these price signs don’t know the importance of a decimal point, then something tells me that the cashier won’t either.
Imagine my pain every time I go into a Marsh and see this on the claw machine:
Words cannot express how sad I feel. It is just so wrong on so many levels.
