Had a nice talk with a doctor (department head) tonight. He moved here from Chicago where he’s still paying the mortgage on an underwater property. He looks at the prices here and he can see that it doesn’t add up. He was wondering when the tipping point would come for Vancouver. In any case, he has no intention of buying here for now. These things are obvious when viewed from the outside.

but why would one want to be on the outside?

then you wouldn’t be owning real estate in vancouver like a winner

Another market tries to distance itself from Vancouver — Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows this time. Apparently Cam Muir’s blithe optimism just isn’t rosy enough for these two realtors.

Anon 03:

The screen on the til said my change was supposed to be 53 cents. The small independent business owner operating the til gave me only 50 cents change.

Man are you cheap. I would be happy I don’t have to carry those 3 pennies. The poor store owner is probably barely making minimum wage. Just pay with a debit card or credit card if you are worried about 3 pennies.

A lot of the smaller independent businesses (that I like to support) aren’t updating their tills like shoppers drug mart did where all the prices end in five cent increments.

After taxes are applied you will still end up with pennies in change. You are not only cheap but not too bright.

“But the smaller businesses haven’t done this to their tils so tils still have screens that give change ending in 2,3,4 so a cashier has to be smart/honest enough to round up or down.”

It’s actually not just 2,3,4 endings, it’s 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9 endings. At Shoppers Drug Mart, the tils only give 0,5 endings.

Couldn’t the retailer legally round the price, $19.47 to $19.50?
Then $0.50 cents would be the correct change.

TPFKAA

“Couldn’t the retailer legally round the price, $19.47 to $19.50?
Then $0.50 cents would be the correct change.”

No. $19.47 rounds to $19.45 not $19.50.

TPFKAA, you are correct. 50c was the right amount of change to give. How can people still not be aware of how this works?

Haha, sorry 55c is correct – not 50.

“My change should be 53 cents but they gave me back 50 cents instead, hoping I won’t say anything. That adds 3 cents to the price, which works out to 2% inflation.”

LOL I just spit my coffee on my computer screen. I doubt 3 cents on cash chocolate bar purchases in small grocery stores are going to impact inflation. If you were worried about 3 cents then you shouldn’t be shopping in these stores anyway because they are generally already more expensive.

If the after-tax price ends in 1,2,6,7 you round down.

If the after-tax price ends in 3,4,8,9 you round up.

Same principle applies for screens that are displaying change.

11 and 12 cents become 10 cents

13 and 14 cents become 15 cents

15 cents obviously stays the same

16 and 17 cents become 15 cents

18 and 19 cents become 20 cents

20 cents obviously stays the same

And it goes on from there…21 cents is 20 cents

What I just described in Comment #15–the tils at Shoppers Drug Mart do that automatically. But in the places that haven’t changes their tils (so probably most businesses), the cashiers have to think for themselves and round it for themselves and be honest about the rounding.

“Couldn’t the retailer legally round the price, $19.47 to $19.50?”

Of course they can do what ever they want. As a consumer you have a choice to shop where ever you want. Personally I would rather give the small store 3 cents rather than pay 5 cents per bag like at many larger stores. I heard Home Depot is rounding everything down. So $1.54 = $1.50 for cash. Each store can have their own policy just like they can price the items how ever they want.

I’ve not been to Shoppers yet – do they tills only perform the rounding for cash transactions?

This is so reminiscent of the US housing bubble Greenspan the Maestro (for those of you too young to know this Greenspan was very popular in his day) and Carney the Rock Star, both leaving after creating housing bubbles. We are watching the bubble deflate in slow motion very similar to the US bubble and the media still says its different here it’s Canada!

@Anonymous #17

“Of course they can do what ever they want…I heard Home Depot is rounding everything down. So $1.54 = $1.50 for cash.”

Theoretically, I suppose that is correct and I am shocked to hear that about Home Depot. The Canadian Mint has put out guidelines for rounding that is consistent with what I just spelled out in comment #15

http://www.mint.ca/store/template/default/pennyinfo.html#.URUr-_KvjGA

According to Canadian Mint and Government of Canada, the guideline is you round down $1.01 and $1.02 to $1.00 and $1.06 and $1.07 becomes $1.05. You round up $1.03 and $1.04 to $1.05 and also round up $1.08 and $1.09 and $1.10

That is basically the same thing I said in comment #15. But comment #15 makes more sense in my brain as someone who has worked with cash.

@Vote Down the Facts:

I didn’t really notice about what happened for people paying with credit or debit but I think the tils at Shoppers Drug Mart probably would have rounded for them too. It seemed like each individual item was being rounded as it came up on the screen as the cashier scanned it. I don’t know if there was an option to take off the rounding at the end for someone paying with credit/debit.

Penny Pincher: “Theoretically, I suppose that is correct and I am shocked to hear that about Home Depot.”

It is good policy because penny pinchers like you might shop there thinking they will save 3 cents. It also will encourage people to use cash and will save the retailer credit card fees. I doubt it will amount to much for Home Depot where purchases are usually large and credit cards are more common.

Just as I suspected…

Most posters here are “penny wise and dollar foolish”…

Hence, the questionable stats often referred to…

If there’s one thing to give home sellers in Vancouver some sort of comfort, it may be that Montreal has just stolen the crown as the ugliest Canadian metro from a supply/demand perspective:

http://theeconomicanalyst.com/content/revisiting-important-post-impending-construction-slowdown-and-montreal-sales-declines

The MOI chart is particularly scary.

But hey, in terms of absolute dead air underneath current prices, Vancouver remains the undisputed king.