Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
09-29-2016, 05:26 AM   #16
Pentaxian
reeftool's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Upstate New York
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 9,543
It is a pretty odd experience. Even buying the exact same items a couple of weeks in a row probably wouldn't total to the same price because prices change. Produce changes a lot, usually with each delivery. Usually, at least one item in your cart is going to be on sale. We tend to do bulk shopping and fill the freezer and pantry so our weekly shopping isn't much and usually just perishables but I don't remember having two weeks in a row the same. Our average weekly grocery tab is between $20 - $30, not much and often the same or similar stuff with most of it fresh produce, milk, eggs, etc. After reading this, I might check just out of curiosity But having two receipts with the exact same total while buying different items is a rare one indeed. I would keep those receipts and frame them!

09-29-2016, 06:41 AM   #17
Senior Member
graphicgr8s's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 229
The part I can't believe is you are using a debit card. A few weeks ago I was listening to talk radio. Some financial guy. He was talking about why he insists on not having a debit card. He recommends you have only an ATM card. And his reasoning seems sound.

Why? Simple. Sure. You're covered in the event of a loss. But here is the scenario he put into place. Your info gets stolen. They wipe your account. And all the accounts linked to that. Then your mortgage/rent/electric/whatever clears during that period and it of course bounces. Now your bank will of course make good on the money. They may even wive the check fees. And they may even contact the company that got the bounced check. But alas it is an inconvenience.
So he recommends credit cards. Sure they get hacked also but if it should it won't affect your other finances. You won't bounce checks or other electronic payments. I use my CC for about everything. And I get 5% back on gas, 2% on restaurants and 1% on everything else. Since it's paid off every month it costs me nothing, makes me a bit and I am safer.
09-29-2016, 01:40 PM   #18
Moderator
Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
MarkJerling's Avatar

Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 20,391
Here, we all use debit cards that look and operate like credit cards. It's called EFTPOS and works so well that hardly anyone carries cash anymore.
09-29-2016, 05:56 PM   #19
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
monochrome's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Working From Home
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 26,276
QuoteOriginally posted by automorphism Quote
This is hardly unbelievable, and you can easily estimate the odds of it happening. I usually buy approximately the same amount of stuff each shopping. Not exactly, but say (for the sake of example), within the 80-100$ range. There are only 2000 possible amounts in that interval. Assuming the cost of your final shopping is uniformly distributed in that interval (and, any other assumed distribution will give a similar result), that means when I go shopping next week there is a 1/2000 chance that I will get the same amount. Suppose I go shopping 52 times per year (about once a week).

Then, the probability of not ever getting the same amount in that year is calculated by:

(1999/2000)*(1998/2000)* ... * (1949/2000)

Since, there are still 1999 amounts I can get after the first shopping that are different than the first, 1998 amounts after the second that are different than the first two, etc,..., and 1949 amounts after the first 51 shoppings. What is the product of all these numbers? 0.5123408. Therefore, if I follow the same procedure, in just one year there is a 0.5123409 probability that I *won't* get the same amount, so therefore, a 0.4876592 probability that I *will* get the same amount at least once in a year. That's at least - the probability of 0.4876592 includes at least one duplicate.

Now, it might not be in consecutive weeks. But with 52 weeks there are only 1326 pairs of weeks in the year, and 51 of them are consecutive. So about 3.8% of weeks are consecutive week-pairs. Therefore, if a thousand people conduct this experiment, you'd expect about 488 of them to get the same amount shopping at least twice in a year, and about 18 of them will have it occur in consecutive weeks.

It just seems unlikely to you because most people don't keep track of the exact amount they have spent.

Even if you change the numbers to make the range of amounts larger, with the millions of shoppers around the world, this type of thing happens all the time - just nobody notices.
Very well explained!

09-29-2016, 06:33 PM   #20
Veteran Member
p38arover's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Western Sydney, Australia
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,084
QuoteOriginally posted by MarkJerling Quote
Here, we all use debit cards that look and operate like credit cards. It's called EFTPOS and works so well that hardly anyone carries cash anymore.
Do Americans still sign? I was always confused by US TV shows where the kids borrowed their parents cards until I went on holiday in the States and no one ever checked my signature. I believe US credit cards at last have the electronic chip so signing is no longer necessary.
09-29-2016, 07:52 PM   #21
Senior Member
graphicgr8s's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 229
QuoteOriginally posted by p38arover Quote
Do Americans still sign? I was always confused by US TV shows where the kids borrowed their parents cards until I went on holiday in the States and no one ever checked my signature. I believe US credit cards at last have the electronic chip so signing is no longer necessary.
Generally with chip cards under $50 you don't sign. Over $50 you do.

Our debit cards are chipped just like credit cards. They are undersigned by Mastercard or Visa.

My point, actually the radio hosts point was that with a debit card while you are covered if theft should occur it can cause you a lot of agita. (Italian for aggravation) A check trying to clear and you have no money in your account for a period of time due to that theft. It is just safer to use credit card instead of the debit cad. I use my credit card every time. Most times I have no cash on me.
09-29-2016, 08:45 PM   #22
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Rochester, NY
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 5,321
I still use cash for most day to day purchases. I still keep a checkbook register too. One of my credit cards info got stolen once after an online purchase. AND THE BLOODY PERP USED IT TO BY A NIKON DSLR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


09-30-2016, 01:55 AM   #23
Veteran Member
p38arover's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Western Sydney, Australia
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,084
QuoteOriginally posted by graphicgr8s Quote
Generally with chip cards under $50 you don't sign. Over $50 you do..
Signatures are no longer accepted here, it's PIN only. If the retailer accepts Pay Wave/PayPass, one only has to enter the PIN for amounts over $100.

---------- Post added 30th Sep 2016 at 18:59 ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by gaweidert Quote
I still use cash for most day to day purchases. I still keep a checkbook register too.
I usually pay by credit card and pay it off completely at the end of each billing period. I no longer run a cheque account. Occasionally, I'll use my debit card.

For our recent holiday in Hong Kong, we pre-loaded a chipped Qantas Frequent Flyer cash card with HKG dollars and just withdrew money from the HKG ATMs or paid with the card.
09-30-2016, 02:13 AM   #24
Moderator
Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
MarkJerling's Avatar

Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 20,391
I understand cheques will be a thing of the past no more than 2 years from now, here.
09-30-2016, 04:12 AM   #25
Veteran Member
p38arover's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Western Sydney, Australia
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,084
Here, ATMs are starting to be pulled out as transactions through them are falling because of transactions being done electronically and cash is not needed as often.
09-30-2016, 01:34 PM   #26
Senior Member
graphicgr8s's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 229
QuoteOriginally posted by p38arover Quote
Here, ATMs are starting to be pulled out as transactions through them are falling because of transactions being done electronically and cash is not needed as often.
i still prefer cash for certain things. No one needs to know every single thing I buy. I started using gas cards lately. One store here every so often will run a sale if you buy $50 in food stuff you can get a $50 gas card for $40.
Gas pump skimmers are a threat so worst that could happen is I lose $25 or less since a fill up is about $25 in the Toyota. Filling up the Dakota will take almost all of that $50. Thing is if they should get any info off that card my info is not on it.
09-30-2016, 03:46 PM   #27
Pentaxian




Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 4,833
QuoteOriginally posted by MarkJerling Quote
You seem to be real good with maths and probability! Can you help me with next week's Lotto numbers?
The short version of probability: don't play Lotto.
09-30-2016, 04:07 PM   #28
Moderator
Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
MarkJerling's Avatar

Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 20,391
QuoteOriginally posted by DeadJohn Quote
The short version of probability: don't play Lotto.
I know! I buy a ticket about twice a year!
09-30-2016, 04:36 PM   #29
Veteran Member
p38arover's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Western Sydney, Australia
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,084
QuoteOriginally posted by graphicgr8s Quote
Gas pump skimmers are a threat so worst that could happen is I lose $25 or less since a fill up is about $25 in the Toyota. Filling up the Dakota will take almost all of that $50. Thing is if they should get any info off that card my info is not on it.
There are very few pay at the pump petrol stations here. Those that are use PayWave so one doesn't insert the card into a slot.
09-30-2016, 08:39 PM   #30
Senior Member
graphicgr8s's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 229
QuoteOriginally posted by p38arover Quote
There are very few pay at the pump petrol stations here. Those that are use PayWave so one doesn't insert the card into a slot.
Here it's about every station. I hate having to go into the store to pay. Plus it wastes a lot of time that way. I do miss the old full service stations though.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
absolutely, amount, beyond, card, cash, credit, day, dollar, event, identical, manager, pin, type, union, wife
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
I absolutely love it! i_trax Pentax K-1 & K-1 II 14 06-12-2016 12:33 AM
The K-1 is absolutely killing me sumitkar1971 Pentax DSLR Discussion 34 05-13-2016 04:12 PM
What is the absolutely sharpest lens available for Pentax? Bagga_Txips Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 39 07-13-2015 09:05 AM
Absolutely ******* hideous... Cambo Pentax News and Rumors 22 12-20-2008 04:33 PM
Absolutely ******* hideous... Cambo Pentax News and Rumors 116 12-19-2008 01:16 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:57 PM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top