Why Do Cash Registers Display My Change Due for Only a Split Second?

These new-fangled electronic cash registers do me no favor by displaying my change due for only a tiny fraction of a second. Why, if you blink or just look away, then you miss it, and, because the total balance due isn't displayed either, you don't know what's going on. You can be at the mercy a short-change artist.

In the olden days of mechanical cash registers, the total due would be clearly displayed for as long as you were getting your money out and handing it over to the cashier. Then he or she would enter the amount tendered, and big, bold numerals would roll and your change due would stop (sort of like a one-armed bandit does it) and remain displayed until the next order would be started. No more!

I'd like to scream to the devisors of these new registers: "DON'T DO ME ANY FAVORS! DON'T EVEN BOTHER TO DISPLAY THE CHANGE DUE AT ALL!"

Not only do I have that gripe, but...

Did you ever have a problem deciphering what comes out of those things that supposedly passes for a receipt?

Frequently, what should be simple, straightforward, and very easy to understand seems to have been laid out by some kind of space alien moron. There's no doubt about it; idiots are running the world, more aptly stated as: idiots are ruining the world.

P.M. (P.S. Ahhh, I realize it; you gotta take the bad with the good. These are the best of times; these are the worst of times.)

a reply to: theworldisnotenough
If you are old enough to buy it you are old enough to know what your change should be when you get it.....learn a little simple maths....

a reply to: theworldisnotenough

These new-fangled electronic cash registers do me no favor by displaying my change due for only a tiny fraction of a second. Why

Say I'm a bad guy looking to score some quick cash.
I see where the register says your getting $50 bucks back...
Bet your arise I'd be following you out... easy pickings after a hard thump to the back of the head and I know you got cash in pocket!

that's why...

Who knows what cash registers you are referring to, but most of them show the change until the "associate" closes the cash drawer. The entire transaction is also on your receipt. Seems like a First World Problem.

originally posted by: stirling
a reply to: theworldisnotenough
If you are old enough to buy it you are old enough to know what your change should be when you get it.....learn a little simple maths....

Oh, I beg to differ. You say "old enough." What about "too old?"

We have an aging population in the United States... even more so in Germany and Japan.

Oldsters get confused easily enough. You don't need any further confusion at checkout. As it is, you have to remember to tender your coupons, you have to remember to hand over your club-discount card AND get it back. You have to pay attention to a bagger who is probably screwing it all up, etc.

Oldsters are easy hits for unscrupulous cashiers.

BTW, in Japan, the Minister of Finance, in response to the problem of carrying the burden of Japan's elderly, told those elderly, "Hurry up, and DIE!"

P.M.

You can always ask them to repeat themselves, and if you give them money you should know your change. This screen doesn't do anything really, I never look at it. Most of the time I use my card anyways and the info is there.

There have been times too, where I will give, lets say a $20, and they give me the change for a $10, I just say "I gave you a $20." One time at a bar the bartender said I did not and gave her a $10, I told her "Look I just left work, stopped at the atm, took out a $20 bill, and walked over here, handed it to you for a beer, you gave me back 8, not $18" She refused to agree, blah blah, so now me and my friends go in there and don't tip her ever. Karma.

Just always do your own math, don't rely on people or machines.

originally posted by: schuyler
Who knows what cash registers you are referring to, but most of them show the change until the "associate" closes the cash drawer.

I think that you are thinking of the display that the cashier gets to see, not the customer.

P.M.

a reply to: theworldisnotenough

That's why they have a thing called a "receipt". It's a marvelous wonder in today's modern world! It will not only tell you what you owed, what you paid, AND what you received in change, but also what day it is, what time the transaction is, as well as other things you may or may not have an interest in.

What a marvelous world we live in!!! XD

originally posted by: Necrobile
a reply to: theworldisnotenough

That's why they have a thing called a "receipt". It's a marvelous wonder in today's modern world! It will not only tell you what you owed, what you paid, AND what you received in change, but also what day it is, what time the transaction is, as well as other things you may or may not have an interest in.

What a marvelous world we live in!!! XD

Apparently, you did not read my OP in its entirety.

Or maybe you did... added sarcasm here??

P.M.

originally posted by: theworldisnotenough


We have an aging population in the United States... even more so in Germany and Japan.

Oldsters get confused easily enough. You don't need any further confusion at checkout. As it is, you have to remember to tender your coupons, you have to remember to hand over your club-discount card AND get it back. You have to pay attention to a bagger who is probably screwing it all up, etc.

Oldsters are easy hits for unscrupulous cashiers.

Oh, really? Let me tell you a little story. The electricity went out in Honolulu. Since we could not cook, we decided to head over to McDonalds where the electricity was still on. When we got there there was a long line. It turns out the computers that ran McDonalds cash registers were in a part of the city where the power outage was, so the result was that the first line cashiers COULD NOT MAKE CHANGE unless the cash registers told them how much to give out. Not only that, the first line supervisors also COULD NOT MAKE CHANGE because they didn't know how.

So a couple of OLD LADIES (the kind you mentioned) were recruited from the customers to help in giving out change because they were the only ones who could do it.

So much for "old people" being confused.

originally posted by: schuyler
Oh, really? Let me tell you a little story. The electricity went out in Honolulu. Since we could not cook, we decided to head over to McDonalds where the electricity was still on. When we got there there was a long line. It turns out the computers that ran McDonalds cash registers were in a part of the city where the power outage was, so the result was that the first line cashiers COULD NOT MAKE CHANGE unless the cash registers told them how much to give out. Not only that, the first line supervisors also COULD NOT MAKE CHANGE because they didn't know how.

So a couple of OLD LADIES (the kind you mentioned) were recruited from the customers to help in giving out change because they were the only ones who could do it.

So much for "old people" being confused.

The old ladies may have done it better. This doesn't mean that they did it right.

P.M.

originally posted by: theworldisnotenough
Apparently, you did not read my OP in its entirety.

Or maybe you did... added sarcasm here??

P.M.

No, I did read it, and yes, added sarcasm because I think what you're bitching about is rather silly, especially since all the things you're bitching about not having, is right there on your receipt.

I also agree with stirling and HardCorps. You should know enough math to figure out if you were short-changed, but I won't lie, that's a hope that not many people can live up to, especially in today's modern world(no sarcasm here, it's true, technology has made many stupid). But HardCorps has a very good point. There really are people out there who watch for that stuff, in hopes to score a quick grab.

Oddly enough, what you're complaining about, people complained enough to get removed. Many people didn't like having their change shown right there in the open, where people can see it. Why? Out of fear of what HardCorp mentioned.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, out of everything in the world worth bitching about, you decide to bitch about something that's just flat out stupid. I understand you may not like it, but what you're mad about is right there on your receipt. Well, unless you're the type that always refuses a receipt, or tosses it away immediately. Then all I have to say is /shrug.

originally posted by: theworldisnotenough

The old ladies may have done it better. This doesn't mean that they did it right.

P.M.

Silliest comment ever. Too arrogant to concede. You have no evidence for such a claim. if you wanted people to do it wrong they could have kept the minimum wage employees in the line. The very fact the ladies were there proves the point. Unless, of course, the customers were too stupid to know whether they were given the correct change. Which is kind of your issue, isn't it? You need the cash register to tell you how much change you are owed. It's just too confusing for you to figure it out yourself.

originally posted by: Necrobile

since all the things you're bitching about not having, is right there on your receipt.

Not really.

I have something else to bitch about. All too often the register's printer produces a highly defective receipt that is totally unreadable. Even when it is printed up to standard (that is, up to the standard of the printer's manufacturer) it can be difficult to read without reading glasses.

originally posted by: Necrobile
But HardCorps has a very good point. There really are people out there who watch for that stuff, in hopes to score a quick grab...

Many people didn't like having their change shown right there in the open, where people can see it. Why? Out of fear of what HardCorp mentioned.

A certain national chain of drug stores uses a card swiper on its counter. It has a tiny screen that displays the change due for a split second. How many people do you think would be looking over my shoulder to see it?

originally posted by: Necrobile
So I guess what I'm trying to say is, out of everything in the world worth bitching about, you decide to bitch about something that's just flat out stupid.

I guess that you were a really big fan of Andy Rooney.

I want you to think about what you wrote. You use the word “stupid,” yet you visited this thread and then revisited it.

P.M.

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: theworldisnotenough

The old ladies may have done it better. This doesn't mean that they did it right.

P.M.

Silliest comment ever. Too arrogant to concede. You have no evidence for such a claim. if you wanted people to do it wrong they could have kept the minimum wage employees in the line. The very fact the ladies were there proves the point. Unless, of course, the customers were too stupid to know whether they were given the correct change. Which is kind of your issue, isn't it? You need the cash register to tell you how much change you are owed. It's just too confusing for you to figure it out yourself.

And, do you know what?

That whole Honolulu story about McDonald's and the old ladies may be a pure urban myth.

P.M.

One respondent says: "Do your own math."

Another respondent says that people are security conscious and do not want the change due to them displayed for the boogy man to see.

Another respondent says that the information and more is on your receipt.

To all I ask, "THEN WHY THE-L DISPLAY THE CHANGE DUE AT ALL, AND FOR A SPLIT SECOND, NO LESS??"

P.M.

Something like what they show on Television now, we don't do TV but if you watch and turn off the sound you will notice that there is no "Motion" anymore.

It's all cut into clips less than a second long, be it a commercial or a show or a movie....... Mark my words they have trained the Masses to obey in short blips and that is what you have noticed.

Regards, Iwinder

originally posted by: stirling
a reply to: theworldisnotenough
If you are old enough to buy it you are old enough to know what your change should be when you get it.....learn a little simple maths....

This is an idiotic thing to say, I see this kind of response all the time. There are lots of reasons why they should display the change and for a reasonable period of time to. In any event its not the point.

In America, a founding principle is "Let the buyer beware". Old or not.

Mental math skills FTW!!!1

originally posted by: theworldisnotenough

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: theworldisnotenough

The old ladies may have done it better. This doesn't mean that they did it right.

P.M.

Silliest comment ever. Too arrogant to concede. You have no evidence for such a claim. if you wanted people to do it wrong they could have kept the minimum wage employees in the line. The very fact the ladies were there proves the point. Unless, of course, the customers were too stupid to know whether they were given the correct change. Which is kind of your issue, isn't it? You need the cash register to tell you how much change you are owed. It's just too confusing for you to figure it out yourself.

And, do you know what?

That whole Honolulu story about McDonald's and the old ladies may be a pure urban myth.

P.M.

I would say it's very believable. Start paying attention when you go to gas stations and such you would be surprised at how many people that can't do something as simple as count change for a dollar.