I keep getting overcharged at the grocery store. Foul play?
Of course, there is no way for us to know whether or not the clerk is trying to rip you off $1.29 at a time, but I can't understand the possible motivation for doing so.  I would imagine that most people would catch this at some point, so for a store to consistently overcharge for something like this is really bad for business. They would be risking upsetting a customer all for the potential gain of $1.29. I have to assume that it is not malice, but incompetence.  We don't know what caused the clerk to be confused, but it is not really our concern. From what I can tell, you've gotten the right price in the end.  You were ultimately charged for two drinks, and the extra $1.29 that you were charged was refunded. Since it happened three times, you have to decide how badly you want these drinks in the future.  If you choose to return, you'll just have to expect the possibility that it will ring up incorrectly, and you'll have to get it fixed.  If that seems like too much hassle, then don't return to this store.
"What disconnect? And I'm not even kidding here - where is it? Do you really think that arbitrage that is a pittance compared to long term trading somehow distorts the process that some people claim is actually socially beneficial? Given that there's really no evidence of it causing misallocation or mispricing, what is the problem? That some dumbass day trader (who is, by the way, trying to make money in exactly the same way as the HFT people - he's just worse at it) got screwed over by some not-quite-as-dumbass people working at Goldman Sachs?  And why would you think that HFT (or any other advancement) is somehow related to such a thing; we've had ""speculation"" and foul play of various types for hundreds of years. What is it that is fundamentally different this time that wasn't there in, for example, the 80s?" "Socialism at work ...  &gt;*CARACAS, VENEZUELA –  Venezuela's food shortage is so bad the country is mandating that people scan their fingerprints at grocery stores in order to keep people from buying too much of a single item.*  &gt;*President Nicolas Maduro says a mandatory fingerprinting system is being implemented at grocery stores to combat food shortages. He calls it an ""anti-fraud system"" like the fingerprint scan the country uses for voting.*  &gt;*In announcing the plan late Wednesday, Maduro did not say when the system would take effect, but other administration officials suggested it could be in place by December or January.*  &gt;*The move was met with skepticism. Critics said the new system is tantamount to rationing and constitutes a breach of privacy. Others simply wondered if anything short of a systemic overhaul of the economy could help the socialist South American country's chronically bare shelves.*  &gt;*Venezuela has been grappling with shortages of basic goods like cooking oil and flour for more than a year. In the spring, the administration tried out a similar system in government-run supermarkets on a voluntary basis.*  &gt;*Rigid currency controls and a shortage of U.S. dollars have made it increasingly difficult for Venezuelans to find imported products. Price controls don't help either, with producers complaining that some goods are priced too low to make a profit and justify production.*  Cross-post from /r/MAConservative" "Whole Foods quality standards will always make them the best option for strictly healthy food. Whole Foods biggest flaw is not advertising why they are healthier so many people believe that Trader Joe's and the ""healthy"" selections at other grocery stores are just the same at a lower price. In a few cases this may be true but most products at these stores are no different than the name brand products, they just have a ""healthy"" looking label. Whole Foods just got the ""whole paycheck"" stigma early on and rather than explain why their prices are higher, they just let it be.   Ultimately I think Whole Foods hit a wall with their customer base and since they continue to open stores faster than they can get new customers, the same store sales have been steadily declining. Introduce competition with lower prices as well and Whole Foods was sent reeling.   Also the stock has been consistently trading over the buyout price per share since the announcement meaning the market is even saying that the price was too low and that Amazon got a great deal. I'm interested to see if the speculation of a bidding war will actually commence." Have you ever BEEN to a Trader Joe's? Most of the stuff I buy there is as cheap or cheaper than if I'd gotten it at Walmart or another cheap grocery store...it's all store brand without the name brand mark up. If something is expensive (such as produce out of season; high cost meat such as lamb or seafood).  Trader Joe's is run the way a grocery store SHOULD be run. People in Maine don't need oranges and people in Nebraska don't need sea bass to survive. "More like ""I'm going to give you a pile of sandwiches for you and your friends, and you'll like it, but if your friends don't, I'm going to charge you double.""  They're advertising the product as good, with some stupid warning if it's not good.  They're simply trying to manage complaints by making complaining impossible, rather than fixing the actual problems." "Understand that buying a Starbucks gift card at the grocery store to receive 6% back on your coffee rather than 6% back on your groceries is an exploit of a flaw in the benefits program, not a feature.  It's definitely not a blanket yes or no answer, the only way to find out is to try. Separately, I don't know why you would find this ""concerning.""  This will vary greatly between merchants and cards.  There will always be new points churning exploits, they don't last forever and you can't expect every customer service rep to be well versed in methods employed to juice cardmember programs. Hell, a number of years ago one person figured out that he could buy rolls of $1 coins from the US treasury with free shipping and no additional fees.  This guy was literally buying thousands of dollars of cash each month to deposit and pay his credit card bill; completely against the terms of the treasury program for distributing the $1 coins.  A number of people had their cards and points/cash back revoked for that one." WHAT? That is just no true. I lived in Philadelphia, London and Brussels and I can tell you, the prices were almost double in Philly for groceries store. Even at Wallmart, I wont talk about Trader Joe, Whole Foods, acme... I'm gonna drop some knowledge for you.  If you buy 3 items for $9.96, the cost of each individual item is:      $9.96 / 3 = $3.32  This logic carries through in any situation where you pay an amount for more than one of something.  I'm confident you can extrapolate for the 2nd link.  On that note, I don't understand how you clicked the links, saw *literally* only the price, and then closed them.  You sure are zealous in your battle to defend Best Buy.