Why My Local Grocery Store Loves Me

By: Thomas Huff

This is a receipt I saved from a trip I made to the supermarket one day. I had strolled into the local Giant Foods and decided to take advantage of the bulk-food section where a sign prominently hangs urging customers to "Take as much or as little as you need." Well, on this particular day, I only happened to need one grain of sugar. So I picked up the scoop and carefully put my grain of sugar in a bulk-food bag, slapped a sticker on it and twisty-tied it shut.

This being the only item I needed on this trip, I strolled up to the express check-out-counter (Ten items or less. I only had one grain. I guess I could have gotten nine more). Now unfortunately, all I had on me at the time was a brand new, crisp one hundred dollar bill and there was no have-a-penny-give-a-penny-need-a-penny-take-a-penny cup. So there I was with one cent worth of 'cane sugar' and no change. Well, you should have seen the look on the cashier's face when I gave her a hundred dollar bill to pay my one cent charge. Now, the way I figure it, this was probably one of the more exciting things to happen during her monotonous work day but she didn't seem to find it the least bit amusing, just service with a spiteful smile.

As an aside: Do you know that there's no sales tax on one cent? So if you want to avoid that nasty tax from now on, I suggest you buy your sugar one grain at a time.