Why 19.99

But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors. Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon. But it works, because nobody ever answers the question 'How much did you pay for gas' with 'Three ninety-nine and nine-tenths per gallon', do they?

Yeah, they squeeze the last -nth out of you. A week or so ago, my son was asking me what those numbers after the regular decimal points were on the signs at the gasoline station, and I did my best to explain. We've become accustomed to this pricing scheme even if it doesn't really make sense -- except to charge us more. I hate that type of pricing scheme!

I want to see what they tell me when I ask for 38 dollars, 42 cents, and 3 tenths of a cent's worth of gas! Hand them two 20s and wait for my change. It's ridiculous! Another personal finance "Thank you" to my mother! When I'd go shopping with her, she would encourage me to round all the prices up. It was a game for me as a kid since I was such a smart big girl who knew her numbers I think it's funny that so many retailers still charge.

Many of home depots prices reflect the products department or category. All items in electrical would have one set of cent-prices, and items in lumber would have another. Thanks for your comment -- I did read in one article that in some cases, for administrative reasons, retailers used certain unique price endings but I hadn't yet seen the pattern.

I've always rounded things up I've never understood people that go "hey that's only a dollar" But when I worked retail at Home Depot btw customers did it all the time I just don't understand it.. Nice post - thanks. I try to round like I mentioned earlier but I guess there are many people who don't. I did wonder if some folks didn't round up simply because comparisons are typically made from x.

Your observations though tell me that people focus on the left digits. I know, it's shocking that it works.

And he told me that people just don't round up. They genuinely think it's that much cheaper. BTW Julie, I didn't know about the 4's and 7's, I always wondered why they didn't make those 9's too, so thanks. You see this a lot on home shopping channels, in kind of a strange way. But that initial figure is so compelling About Contact Advertise. Credit Cards Personal Finance. Payment goes from Topics: TurboTax Premier Windows.

Accepted Solutions. Level First of all about the There is a lot of confusion about this. You can prepare unlimited federal and unlimited state returns. Some people need to file in more than one state so they have to buy another state program. You can print and mail the state for free or each state including the first one is If you buy the cd at the store the Basic version does not include the state. And Deluxe is available both with and without the state. Because some states don't have an income tax.

Then to have the So it would be Go back through the File tab to review or change your choices. VolvoGirl, thank you for the speedy reply!

I understand now. I find it misleading and very inconvenient, especially after it shows 0. What is more, those who started with the round number as their mental anchor were much more likely to guess a wholesale price that was also in round numbers. The scientists ran this experiment again and again with different scenarios and always got the same result. Why would this happen? As Janiszewski and Uy explain in the February issue of Psychological Science , people appear to create mental measuring sticks that run in increments away from any opening bid, and the size of the increments depends on the opening bid.

The psychologists decided to check these lab findings in the real world. They looked at five years of real estate sales in Alachua County, Florida, comparing list prices and actual sale prices of homes. Put another way, buyers were less likely to negotiate the price down as far when they encountered a precise asking price. Furthermore, houses listed in round numbers lost more value if they sat on the market for a couple of months.

But remember that life is an auction. When treatment choices are on the line, the auction house can indeed be a perilous place. Already a subscriber? Sign in.