And 99 Cents: Difference between revisions

The gimmick also lends itself well to advertising trickery, as someone can claim their item is available for "under $30!" Well, yes, technically speaking, $29.99 ''is'' less than $30...

 

* However, if paying via EFTPOS or credit card, the amount is not rounded.

 

This thinking is often carried over to large-ticket items, like cars, at least in the US—nobody cares about a few cents when they're buying a car, but the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) in dollars will end in 7 or 5 far more often than it will end in 0.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Matilda]]'' had Harry Wormwood (the father) advising his son to "Never sell a car for a round number. Always go under by 50 pence. It may not look like much, but it makes the prices look a lot cheaper."

 

* ''[[Look Around You]]'' shows a machine with a price tag of £999.99½p.

* ''[[Married... with Children]]'' satirized this when Steve, a bank manager, told Al about his idea about a 99 cent coin to make purchases easier. Of course Al mentions the sales tax which is added to the price, making the coin no better than a dollar bill.

== Music ==

* The song "Lord, Mr. Ford" by Jerry Reed contains the following lines:

 

== [[Web Animation]] ==

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

{{quote|'''Reverend Lovejoy:''' And ''eight'' tenths?

'''Marge:''' Donny's Discount Gas! }}

** "Amuse your friends! Confuse your enemies! '''Annoy total strangers!'''"

** "It's absolutely nothing!"

** {{spoiler|bucket not included}}

* A non-financial example appears in ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'', where Wade, after [[Mattress Tag Gag|ripping the a tag off the bottom of a couch and learning that it's against the law]], imagines himself being sentenced to "9,999 years in prison". Wade is relieved: "At least I didn't get life."

 

 

* In Japan, most prices end with 80. As in, it's not 1,000 yen, it's 980. This is probably because the number 8 is considered lucky in Japanese culture, while 9 and [[Four Is Death|4]] are considered unlucky. The reason it's not 88 yen is that 1 yen coins seem to be considered an inconvenient hassle, and many vending machines won't even accept them.

* Taiwan also has many prices ending in 8, and the occasional 80 or even 88, also most likely because 8 is lucky in Taiwan as well.

* Relatively uncommon, but far from unheard of in Israel. The local equivalent of a one cent coin has long ago been phased out, followed by the 5 cent, partly because such a low value coin is considered more of a hassle then anything else, and partly because those coins cost more to stamp then their actual value. Instead, non flat values are simply rounded to the nearest tenth of a Shekel.

 

* The lowest denomination of currency in Australia is 5 cents, ever since the 1 and 2 cent coins were abolished in the 90s. You'd think this would stop places from advertising And 99 Cents, but you'd be wrong (although ninety ''five'' cents is more common).

** EB Games in Australia actually uses the various prices to sort how items are discounted during sales. If it ends with, for example, 84, then it'll be 25% off.

** Rounding only takes place on the total amount at the end, and only if you are one of the few people still paying with cash - three-quarters of face-to-face transactions in New Zealand are settled by EFTPOS (debit card), which as you can pay to the nearest cent, does not need rounding.

 

* Some Euro countries have this subverted, by rounding the price to the nearest 5 cents from the result. Thankfully.

** That's both because of tradition and because the 1c and 2c coins are tiny inconvenient little ''shits'', in fact the Netherlands have taken them out of circulation because of this.

* Averted on American military installations in Europe. Due to the high cost of shipping coins overseas, pennies are not imported. Prices are rounded to the nearest nickel at the register.

 

* At least one chain of stores in Pennsylvania ends all prices in wacky numbers like .88—but the reason is so that, after the 6% sales tax is added, the prices come out to even dollars.

* Wal-Mart corporate policy states that stores cannot set their prices to end in 9, 5, or 0, partially because of this trope.

** Bunk now he's gone, 2012 primaries.

 

* Brazil has fairly random pricing for things, with the exception of certain specific cheap-goods stores. Most people would leave without claiming the 1 centavo coin they're entitled to in order to avoid being branded as [[The Scrooge]]. An alternative would be paying with a debit card.

* In Chile in any supermarket or store, every product will end with 9. For example a chocolate bar might cost 799 Pesos. Sometimes is common to see with 49 with smaller products. And with more expensive products wil be with 990. This is mostly for taxes. But that also brought the problem with the "1 peso" Coin, in supermarkets they insist if you will donate that peso or more to charity just to round up your change. And the fact that no one can buy anything with "1 peso" coins anywhere. In most places they reject those coins saying that those have any value at all.

[[Category:Advertising Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]