Customers driving up prices themselves?

[TheseFightingWords]

First off I work in what might be partly called the c-store business. I mean we're not really a c-store, but some of our stuff we compete with c-stores on. For instance candy, cigarettes, cigars. And we try to be middle of the road as far as prices. We're not the cheapest and we're not the most expensive.

The weird thing I think though is customers appear to be driving up prices on their own.

For instance candy bars. I regular candy bar is 89 cents and king size to $1.29. We just raised it recently to honestly make a little more money seeing our competition is charging 99 cents for regular and $1.39 for king. Now the thing 75% of people that buy a candy bar just drop $1 on the counter and say through the rest in the penny thing.

Same goes with cigars. We started selling white owl blunts singles for 99 cents. They'd come out to $1.05 with the tax. 90% of people tossed $1.10 or more on the counter said put the rest in the penny thing. So I raised it to match out competitor so it came out to $1.10 because honestly $1.10 seemed like the amount everyone was giving for the most part. And to be perfectly honest I think I could take them to $1.25 and no one would care. Granted the blunts are being used for drugs so I guess any price is ok.

Then we've got 20oz sodas. The companies have been increasing the prices alot lately, and we've been complaining because honestly I don't know how much more people can be charged for soda. I mean last year we were $1.35 for a 20oz Now pepsi is $1.60 and still no one bats an eye. No comments, no changing brands no nothing. And we're still not the most expensive in our area. Guy up the street is getting $1.70 no problem. That's more than a 2 liter at our store.

[Becks]

Are you allowed to "keep the change"? I would. Extra money that adds up!!

[JustADude]

I've had that happen to me a lot as well. People will buy single cigarillos, which come to $.63 with tax, and toss me like $.65~$.75 and just walk off. I keep a mental track of it and then, for example, only take $1.00 from people whose total is $1.03 until I'm back even. I usually end up a few cents off one way or the other, but our tills only have to match up +/- $10.00, and they're hardly ever off more than +/- $.40

[edible_hat]

I've got a regular who buys five mini cigars a day. It would be a few dollars cheaper to buy a 10-pack every 2 days ($1.85 per cigar vs $16 for 10).

[TheseFightingWords]

I somewhat do what Justadude does, but at the same time it's my job to look at ways to make the store more money. So when a high percentage of people are just "tossing money a way" I honestly have to look at that as an area we can make more money. Plus the amount of "extra" money last calculation is roughly $10 to $20 a day. So it sometimes presents a problem.

[Fawn]

Oh for the love of..
Every bit of change I get or use is priceless. I'm poor, I can't afford to leave money to companies that are sucking my dry for a bottle of pop. I would love a large pop bottle priced at $1, that would save me so much money! They even charge the single sized Pop's at almost 2$ around here.

Sucking me dry like a vampire in heat! *dies*

[protege]

I don't leave my extra change to companies either. It all goes into the jar at home. When it's full, I take it to the bank, and get bills. That's my lunch money

[Boozy]

Convenience stores and the like sell non-essential impulse items to people who are often in too much of a hurry or too tired to go elsewhere. That means they're price-blind. And it often means that the extra penny or nickel is not going to make much difference to them - they already decided to rip themselves off by buying at a c-store instead of the grocery store.

Example: A case of soda at the convenience store is five dollars; at the grocery store, its $2.50. If I'm doing my weekly shopping at the grocer's on my day off, I look for the best prices and take my time doing so. But if I'm craving a soda at 11 pm and neglected to pick some up earlier, I'll run over to the c-store and pay whatever they are charging. 11 pm soda cravings make me price-blind.

And if I'm in a hurry to get home and drink my soda/eat my chocolate/smoke my cigarettes, then I'll often just leave small change behind.

Midnight c-store runs are not well-planned financial ventures to begin with.

[JustADude]

Convenience stores and the like sell non-essential impulse items to people who are often in too much of a hurry or too tired to go elsewhere. That means they're price-blind. And it often means that the extra penny or nickel is not going to make much difference to them - they already decided to rip themselves off by buying at a c-store instead of the grocery store.

Actually, we're about a buck cheaper on dairy (milk/butter/ice-cream) than the same brands in the grocery stores. For the rest of it, though, you're quite right about us being more expensive than a grocer. It's not that it's a rip-off, though.

We are, quite literally, Convenience Stores. We sell convenience. The price markup includes the extra costs of 24hr operation, the wastage involved in carrying almost every type of common expendable from soda and snacks to fix-a-flat and toilet paper, and the cost of prime real-estate located within easy walking distance of a large residential neighborhood.

[TheseFightingWords]

There is a couple of things a c-store has to be cheap on. Dairy and cigs, and that's pretty much it. We sell milk at cost for the most part. The way it's looked at is if you don't sell milk at cost no one will come in for groceries.

But that the big I mean people drive up the price of some stuff on their own, but then they're picky about the price of other things. I find people complaining about milk prices, egg price (and we're the lowest in town), the price of chips (which we can't control), but then they let so many other things just... go

[symposes]

The vending machines around work charge 1.25 for a 20z soda, but i cannot get one for less then 1.39 anywhere else, unless i buy an off-store-brand-brand(Krogar brand, Save-a-Lot, etc)

[Boozy]

Actually, we're about a buck cheaper on dairy (milk/butter/ice-cream) than the same brands in the grocery stores.

Yeah, that seems to be standard practice around here too. I guess the idea is that you get people coming in for the cheapest milk, and then spending whatever they saved on overpriced chips, soda, etc.

[Raieth]

I wish my gas station still sold pop bottles for 1.30

We charge 1.98 (after tax) for the 500mL bottles.

[powerboy]

I don't leave my extra change to companies either. It all goes into the jar at home. When it's full, I take it to the bank, and get bills. That's my lunch money

Same here. I have a good size bottle for change. Whatever is left in it at the end of the month, goes into my bank account.