The Amalgimated Brain Trust

[Bruce Wrenn]

Earlier this week, went to local grocery to buy some sweet potatoes, which were on sale for $0.25 per pound. They come, 40# to the box, and I wanted 4 boxes (160#.) We like sweet potatoes, and these $0.25 per pound ones taste a lot better than the $1.19 per pound ones. Being as how they were in boxes, the local grocery store brain trust had to figure out how to price them and how much. Scale at register was too small to hold a box. After watching them try on cash register, and then on app on phone, I told them that the total price would be $40, plus 2% sales tax ($0.80.) You would think that they had just met Einstien, as I could actually figure the price without using a calculator, or an app on the phone. I'm not sure these kids could count to 21, unless they were naked in the shower. The local brain trust at work!

[Bill Dufour]

Be fair. I am sure teen girls are smarter and could count to 22.
Bill D

[Patty Hann]

Be fair. I am sure teen girls are smarter and could count to 22.
Bill D

Agreed. They would use both hands and feet and would still have a few fingers (or toes) left over.

[Jim Koepke]

I told them that the total price would be $40, plus 2% sales tax ($0.80.)

Sales tax on an unprocessed food item?

jtk

[Patty Hann]

Sales tax on an unprocessed food item?

jtk

Depends on the state/county/city laws.... in AZ some cities charge a sales tax on grocery store food purchases, some don't.

[Jim Koepke]

Depends on the state/county/city laws.... in AZ some cities charge a sales tax on grocery store food purchases, some don't.

Two states of my residence do not tax food. In Washington it used to be people from across the river in Oregon didn't have to pay sales tax here. At every check out the clerk used to ask, "Washington or Oregon?" Washington law exempts most grocery type food from retail sales tax. However, the law does not exempt “prepared food,” “soft drinks,” or “dietary supplements.” Businesses that sell these “foods” must collect sales tax. In addition, all alcoholic items are subject to retail sales tax.

California seems to have become more confusing since we moved north.

California provides a Tax Guide for Restaurant Owners. Sales of food and beverages for consumption at your place of business are usually taxable at the entire combined state and local sales tax rate, unless they are cold food products such as cold sandwiches, milkshakes, smoothies, ice cream, and cold salads sold to-go. Heated food is taxable whether or not it is sold to-go or for consumption at your restaurant. The same exception with hot baked goods, as explained above, applies.

A few teens working a register that can’t do that math in their head is hardly indicative of a whole generation or of the future of society.

One of my high school teachers told the class, the demise of society due to the antics or short comings of the youthful members of the human race is an ages old lament.

This from > https://goodwingrowth.com/younger-ge...on-going-dogs/

“This Younger Generation Is Going To The Dogs!”
That’s a quote from a bit of graffiti Napoleon’s soldiers found while excavating in Egypt.
The graffiti was from 800 B.C.
There were other comments on that wall – the younger generation apparently didn’t respect their elders, had no work ethic, and were not following tradition.

It seems the older generation has been not really seeing the potential of our younger generation for millennia.

jtk

[Mark Wedel]

I remember buying some lunch meat at the deli counter once and asking for 3/4 of a pound. The person there was like 'that is .5 right?', since they just have digital scales, and was bummed when I told them it was .75 since they apparently just missed that on a test they took. I thought fractions was something taught in elementary school.
However, I might also say that those kids working as cashiers or slicing lunch meat at the deli counter might not be the sharpest tools in the shed. The smarter kids might be working better jobs.

[Jim Koepke]

I remember buying some lunch meat at the deli counter once and asking for 3/4 of a pound. The person there was like 'that is .5 right?', since they just have digital scales, and was bummed when I told them it was .75 since they apparently just missed that on a test they took. I thought fractions was something taught in elementary school.
However, I might also say that those kids working as cashiers or slicing lunch meat at the deli counter might not be the sharpest tools in the shed. The smarter kids might be working better jobs.

Now there's a thought, many service and counter attendant jobs are going unfilled. Could it be because there are so many young people whose education has propelled them beyond having to flip burgers or wrangle shopping carts?

jtk

[Alan Rutherford]

I worked part-time at the cash register in a grocery store my last year in high school. (When was the last time you saw an 18-year-old at the register?) That was in the late 1950's when registers did no math except for adding up the totals. The only price I remember was frozen orange juice in 6-ounce cans (half the size of the 12-ounce cans that are more common now). 6 for $0.75. I think the reason I remember them is that it would have been challenging to figure the price for quantities other than 6. But it was taken in stride. I'd like to see some of today's cashiers handle that.

BTW, the typical customer spent about $17 and if I remember correctly the $17 of groceries fit in 2 standard paper grocery bags. It might have been 3 bags. Prices have gone up some since then.

[Rob Luter]

Been there. About 20 years ago I was having lunch in a local cafe. The power went out. We finished our meal and went to the counter to pay. The register was down and the kid flying the counter was clueless. I did the math in my head, including tax. When I told him the total he looked at me like I’d just revealed the secrets of the universe. “How did you do that?” I wasn’t stoned in Jr. high math class.

[Zachary Hoyt]

6 for 75 cents is okay as long as they are bought in even numbers, at 2 for a quarter. Odd numbers would require rounding, which is never fun in a retail context.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

A boyhood friend tried The Missing Dollar Riddle on me. I asked my mom for help trying to figure it out. She very quickly told me "That is not math, that is a trick of words" Mom was a teacher and usually taught English.

[Stan Calow]

The sweet potato calculation in the OP was what we used to be taught as a story problem. A calculator won't help someone figure out how to solve it if the person cant break down the problem into parts. It's the attitude that bothers me: "I dont need to know how to do some things because the computer will do the hard stuff for me." Taking pride in one's ignorance or lack of skill is not a commendable trait. A grade school teacher of mine used to say "if you dont learn how to think, you'll be paying someone else to do it for you."

[Maurice Mcmurry]

OP sure has an appetite for potatoes!

[Mel Fulks]

Before everyone had credit cards the big on street thefts were often from people who called themselves “ quick change artists”.
They always seemed so nice, in a bind and in hurry to do something important. ‘‘twas credit cards that stopped that”.