Menu prices ending in .95

[Fat Guy]

Why does this tactic persist? Does it really make anyone think the food is cheaper?

[chaste_nosferatu]

Like Patton said, "If everyone is thinking alike, then, someone's not thinking." It's pack mentality FatGuy, everyone else is doing it so it must be right. Or perhaps, just maybe it's all a part of an intricate conspiracy just to needle and bemuse you.

[Fat Guy]

Is this a worldwide practice or is it an American thing?

[chaste_nosferatu]

It doesn't happen here in China, even at MickeyD's and KFC. Whole units only.

[lamington]

It's common in Britain and decreasingly in Aus (fashions now go for $14.5 and $22.9, two decimal points is so 1990). But it seemed to be popular in France after the introduction of the Euro.

--lamington

[Christopher]

The line is :

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

King Henry VI, Part II

Act IV, Scene II

[pixelchef]

Quite common here in Canada, too. I also despise the .95

[SWoodyWhite]

I always thought the .95 (or whatever cents made sense at the time) was a tax dodge of some sort. At least, that's what I was taught when I was in school oompityfratz years ago.

I have noticed a shift, with fewer restaurants using the decimel with their pricing than used to be the case, and instead charging a flat dollar rate. This observation comes both from what Bruce and I have found when eating out and from looking over menus on the Internet. Rule of thumb: the flat dollar rate is more likely to be used when the rest of the menu is in italics.

[jeniac42]

I hate the .95 pricing. We used to have that at the restaurant where I work but recently converted to whole-dollar pricing. If nothing else, it looks much, hm, classier in the menu.

[balex]

The only reasonable explanation I have heard is that it is intended (or was intended originally) to stop people skimming the till. If something is just $5, the server in a shop doesn't have to open the till to give change and can easily just pocket the money. If it is $4.95 they have to ring it up to give change.

[Jinmyo]

Worse: .99.

[Basildog]

Guilty as charged your honour

I am just following the crowd aren't i?

Maybe i'll have a price increase of 5p (well there is the new stove to pay for)

[glenn]

At a well-known restaurant in Gotham's beet packing district, the bouillabaisse was priced at $23.75 while all the other dishes were priced at an even dollar amount. When asked about the apparent lack of consistency, the proprietor stated, "The 75 cents covers the GM's salary over the course of a year". [i think her abacus was off.... that would mean selling in excess of 100,000 dishes, or 99,000+ more than they will sell]

[Holly Moore]

It is a way to maximize prices. I can never understand when an entree is priced at $15.25. The restaurant is giving away $.70 every time it sells the one. If someone is willing to pay $15.25 for that dish they will not balk at paying $15.75 or $15.95. They may balk at $16. Yes it does work.

The key is to be crafty with the pricing. Don't price everything at the $.95 price. Some at $.75 and others, the low sellers, at $.50. But never price at $.25; or at $.00 unless the entree prices are so high already that a few nickles here or there are meaningless.

[bigbear]

It is a way to maximize prices.  I can never understand when an entree is priced at $15.25.  The restaurant is giving away $.70 every time it sells the one.  If someone is willing to pay $15.25 for that dish they will not balk at paying $15.75 or $15.95.  They may balk at $16.  Yes it does work.

.....

Bingo.

[Nick]

Maybe it all got its start with gasoline pricing. In over 40 years of driving I don't remember ever seeing gas prices as being anything other than $xxx.9. If gas is selling for $1.529 people refer to it as $1.52. Better get a shrink in here to answer the question.

[Varmint]

I can't remember the name of it, but I did visit a restaurant a couple of years ago that had a different number of cents for every single dish. They recognized how ludicrous it was and just mocked the practice by taking it to a ridiculous extreme. I thought it was hilarious.

[Marlene]

Quite common here in Canada, too.  I also despise the .95

Even worse pixelchef is when Tim Horton's put it's prices up last year. Now a medium coffee is $1.14 and a large is $1.29. Couldn't they have just rounded up the penny? How many pennies do people leave at Tim Horton's now?

Lots I'll bet.

[Kim WB]

Quite common here in Canada, too.  I also despise the .95

Even worse pixelchef is when Tim Horton's put it's prices up last year. Now a medium coffee is $1.14 and a large is $1.29. Couldn't they have just rounded up the penny? How many pennies do people leave at Tim Horton's now?

Lots I'll bet.

I think sometimes that here in NJ the conveneince stores price coffee and such so that with the tax added, it rounds out to a 1.50 or whatever.

While I think Holly hit it on target, I'll also agree that its annoying.

[tommy]

i am so very please when i see a menu with good, honest, round numbers. it makes me giddy.

however, can someone explain why gas stations can charge you 1/10 of a penny? am i the only one who wants to scream "go #()*&% yourself!" every time i drive past a gas station and see those ridiculous price per gallons signs?

[Basildog]

Well , if will make Tommy giddy, another reason to change my prices

[DaveFaris]

I would think one of the hardest things about running a restaurant is calculating the end price of a meal. It certainly must be a very arcane art.

I always figured the prices were figured on what they could get away with instead of the actual price of the ingredients. &c.

[Busboy]

I talked to a guy who ran a wine store for a couple of years and he said that when they opened up, they decided to do away with the "X.95" pricing and just put it up to the next dollar. The switched back after a few months because they found that people were deterred by a $10 wine whereas that had no problem with a $9.95 bottle. Odd.

[Basildog]

I always figured the prices were figured on what they could get away with instead of the actual price of the ingredients. &c.

[tammylc]

This sort of thing is targeted directly at people like my husband. If something costs $14.95, he'll say it's fourteen dollars. He'll even do this with the first digit of higher numbers - something that's $24.95 he'll often report as just costing twenty dollars.