I just got back from a whirlwind of errands and I think I’ve just about completed my Christmas shopping. Woo eee!

Anyway, there was a BOGO sale at one store, and I want to explain why I had the cashier break it into two transactions.

I bought four items, all buy one, get one half off. The prices were: $24.99, $24.99, $9.99, and $9.99.

My first transaction was the two for $24.99, so I paid $24.99 for one and $12.50 for the second. (Incidentally, I had a $10 off coupon when I spent $25). Total was $27.49 after my coupon.

The second transaction was $9.99 and $4.99, for a total of $14.98.

Combined total: $42.47.

If I grouped it as one transaction, I could have paid almost eight dollars more: $50 (even with my $10 coupon). 

Why?

The cash register is programmed to make the store the most money, wouldn’t you agree?

It could have said, “buy one at $24.99, get the $9.99 one half price” and done that scenario twice. Do you see the difference?

I don’t know for sure if the register would have made the transaction as such, but I don’t see why it would give me the better deal.

I didn’t want to take my chances, so I split my transaction.

Hope I wrote that well enough to make sense.