

I would like my $0.37 refund, please. - lucasbmccoy
http://lucasmccoy.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-would-like-my-037-refund-please.html

======
cfinke
> I'm sure to this lady her time is worth much more than $1.48 per hour

Sometimes, it's the principle. During my wife's last pregnancy, our insurance
company would overcharge us by $20 for every single pre-natal checkup; we
debated the merits of calling in (every time), sometimes spending up to an
hour getting through the phone tree to the person who could correct the error,
and we decided that even if we theoretically value our time at more than
$20/hour, we'd rather not let our insurance company slowly squeeze money out
of us that they weren't entitled to.

~~~
lucasbmccoy
>our insurance company would overcharge us by $20 for every single pre-natal
checkup

I think I would do the same in your situation because it's multiple
occurrences.

------
MikeMacMan
People make decisions based on principle, and the information they have at the
time. The shopper probably didn't anticipate that it would take 15 minutes to
correct her purchase. She probably didn't have a good feel for what the price
difference would be. She knew she was paying more than she _should_ , so she
said something. I don't think I would act any differently.

~~~
lucasbmccoy
"A lot of times people have trouble translating percentages into real numbers.
She had also been wronged by being charged 5% more than she should have.

However if she had thought this decision out in the terms that we just have, I
doubt she still gets that refund."

Hindsight is always 20 20. Still once you here someone say they have to get a
manager involved you know it's going to take at least a few minutes.

~~~
MikeMacMan
Sure, but by that time she had already committed to getting her money back.
People don't constantly re-evaluate their decisions as new information comes
in. They're not machines.

------
blago
Sometimes it's easy to forget that we (people in their most active years
making 3 dollar-digits per hour) live in a bubble. We would happily trade a
few dollars so we don't have to wait. We would happily trade many dollars so
we don't have to talk to you. Basically, our time converts to money and back
to time almost without any effort or friction.

Did you know that there are other people that are actually enjoying their
life? The fact that they are standing on their feet, talking to other people,
smelling the residue buffing detergent on the crummy supermarket floor.
Spending 15 minutes in line chatting with other human beings and getting paid
for it ($0.37) is just another beautiful morning for the people that have a
life.

To all HN readers: I hope one day we all know what this feels like :-)

Edit: What I'm trying to say here is that it is very presumptions and shallow
to assume that the monetary gain was the only asset in the "worth-it?"
equation.

------
alanfalcon
Don't underestimate the limitations of the fixed income, or the spare time of
the elderly. The year I worked at Rite Aid was not the best of my life.

~~~
patio11
Coupon clipping is also a fairly common activity, particularly among stay-at-
home moms, and it typically translates into an hourly wage of $6 ~ $8. (This
is why coupons are so effective at price discrimination -- if $6 ~ $8 an hour
is an insult to your intelligence, you will happily pay full price for your
chocolate pudding snack.)

------
bugsy
It also cost the store money to process. If no one holds the store
accountable, then there is no incentive for them to be diligent about correct
pricing. Sometimes people sacrifice their own time for the greater good. If
the pricing problems continue though shoppers will become annoyed and shop
elsewhere. This is why for the store it is better to have a smoother process
for small price adjustments, it should not be necessary to wait 15 minutes for
the store manager's approval on a 37 cent refund, nor should he even have to
deal with it at all, that is a waste of his time and salary to be attending to
something so minor.

This topic relates to software. As soon as we receive a request for a refund
on software we approve it. This means it costs the minimum amount to process
and annoys the customer the least. There is no point to fighting or arguing or
wasting the customer's time.

Painless refunds is in complete opposition to the policies of many large
software companies who have a "no refunds once opened" policy, which doesn't
even make sense since they tend to have revocable registration numbers and
machine locked licensing, so the no-refunds policy is nothing more than a
giant rip off for customers.

------
nl
In related news, a man died unhappy and alone today. Before he died, and
looking back, he remembered the time a girl had asked him to drive her home.
After some extremely advanced math he had given her a cab fare and stayed at
work

But fortunately he had fully optimized his earning potential.

~~~
jarek
And we'll never know if his judgment regarding the potential benefit in that
situation was right.

------
democracy
I worked in a theme park and we had a discount coupon so the customer could
buy 2 meals with a 50% discount for the second meal.

Only in August, after 2.5 busy months one customer complained and spent maybe
half a day arguing with the cashier, then with his manager, then with food
supervisor, and finally with guest relations people. He got his 1(!!!) cent
back. It was an error in the POS system that manages all the cash registers.
However, he also saved many pennies for future guests, also hopefully the park
reviewed the POS logic for other items and thus could have fixed similar
errors and saved even more money for the customers.

So sometimes someone's wasted day is a benefit for many other people.

------
zdw
There's actually a TV show on "Extreme Couponing"
[http://press.discovery.com/us/tlc/programs/extreme-
couponing...](http://press.discovery.com/us/tlc/programs/extreme-couponing/)

Coupons are wonderful advertising as they can attract customers that may not
otherwise even entertain purchasing a product or service, but have a
processing cost on both the buyer and seller's end.

The point isn't the money, the point is keeping that customer in the future.

~~~
nl
Coupons are a very effective way to maximize revenue on a product by
segmenting your market.

"Rich" people would usually never consider coupon clipping, and so will pay
full price.

By putting ever more complicated ways to save money ("save 5% by clipping
this", "save 50% by clipping 10 weeks of these", "save 90% by clipping 10 of
these, then sending off for the rebate") a seller can make sure that even the
poorest can buy their product at the cost of inconvenience.

------
orijing
To me, this seems like something most selfishly rational people will not
pursue--because it's mainly an externality that you're paying for with your
time. However, most people are pursuing these due to principle, and perhaps to
protect their and others' interests in the future.

------
orky56
I guess the opposite principle is the when people don't submit their rebates
for big ticket items. On a per hour basis, they would be making a killing. By
failing to do the rebate, that opportunity cost is painful.

------
MikeMakesIt
I think the author makes the mistaken assumption that everyone is cash-rich
and time-poor. Plenty of people are the opposite, have plenty of time, but a
limited income.

~~~
joelrunyon
He also makes the mistaken assumption that she would have done something
income-earning had she not got her refund. She could have simply gone home and
watched TV earned nothing and she would be down 37 cents.

------
jellicle
Monetary value of time probably isn't even on the top ten list of "reasons why
humans do things". This isn't news. Not everything - in fact, not anything -
can be reduced to money.

~~~
tastybites
Well, hold on. It's certainly in the top 10 reasons of why I _spend_ money,
probably not in the top 10 reasons of why I try to _save_ it though.

------
joelrunyon
Am I the only one here thinking: Why did she buy 12 candy bars?

~~~
alexk7
Because they were on sale, obviously.

~~~
joelrunyon
obviously :)

------
tastybites
At least she didn't pay with a check!

