Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Troodon, post: 26545394, member: 4626&quot;]It works out the same either way.&nbsp; I was making the assumption that they&#039;ll round <i>in favor of the customer</i>, not necessarily to the nearest nickel if the nearest nickel is in favor of the store, so if the change they need to give the customer is 1 cent, they&#039;ll give out 5 cents, thus costing them 4 cents.&nbsp; If they round down to 0, they cost the customer 1 cent... and that might lead to customer complaints or legal hassles (I don&#039;t know who&#039;s getting the law involved for 1 cent lol but you know, some bored lawyer with time on his hands might try a class action lawsuit or something).</p><p><br /></p><p>You&#039;re looking at it from the other end of the transaction: if the customer owes the store $1.01, the store will ask for $1.00, thus costing the store 1 cent.&nbsp; I was looking at it from the perspective of how much change is due to the customer, not the total the customer needs to pay to the store.</p><p><br /></p><p>But it&#039;s a distinction that makes no difference, because the math works out the same either way.&nbsp; Both ways are correct, and arrive at the same answer.&nbsp; The average cost of rounding to the nearest nickel, if always done in the customer&#039;s favor, and assuming all 10 digits have equal chances of coming up, is 2 cents per cash transaction.</p><p><br /></p><p>But... if they round to the nearest nickel always, even when it&#039;s in favor of the store... then the average cost per transaction (again assuming all digits have equal chances of showing up)...</p><p><br /></p><p>Change due if it ends in _ will cost them:</p><p>0 or 5: 0</p><p>1 or 6: -1 cent</p><p>2 or 7: -2 cents</p><p>3 or 8: 2 cents</p><p>4 or 9: 1 cent</p><p><br /></p><p>An average cost of... nothing.&nbsp; In theory that makes this method mutually beneficial.&nbsp; But I&#039;m sure a store is willing to lose an average of 2 cents per cash transaction for the sake of customer goodwill, avoiding complaints, and avoiding legal hassle.&nbsp; That&#039;s less than it costs them to accept credit and debit cards.</p><p><br /></p><p>TLDR: Average cost of rounding to the nearest nickel (assuming all 10 terminal digits are equally likely) if always done in the customer&#039;s favor: 2 cents per cash transaction.&nbsp; Average cost of rounding to the nearest nickel, regardless of whether that favors the store or the customer (again assuming all 10 digits are equally likely): 0.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in