Bunnings 2c Rounding up/down Short-Changing

rosd on 25/03/2025 - 07:41
Last edited 25/03/2025 - 11:14 by 2 other users

After setting up house, I’ve spent thousands over the last year at Bunnings, mostly using gift cards.

After reconciling with my budget, I noticed the amount of times that they round up 2c meaning that you get less change back. This has also happened when they’ve given me a new gift card (they’ve recently changed their gift card process so the entire amount can go in one card instead of the set denominations - $10, $20, etc).

It has added up to significant but not a huge amount of lost $$. But it would be substantial over their entire customer base.

Wondering how many have noticed and of this is a price strategy?

Financial Gift Card

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Comments

  • brendanm on 25/03/2025 - 07:55
    +50

    Apart from this being a lame whinge, how many times have they rounded down?

    If you had gone to bunnings 100 times (unlikely) and they rounded up the maximum amount every time (very unlikely), the most you are out is $2.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 25/03/2025 - 11:08
      +11

      If you had gone to bunnings 100 times (unlikely) and they rounded up the maximum amount every time (very unlikely), the most you are out is $2.

      Bunnings sees over 11 million customers every month.

      You can see how quickly this adds up. It's not about the impact on the individual, it's the money grabbing by a huge corporation.

      • brendanm on 25/03/2025 - 11:31
        +7

        See my first sentence. How many times have they rounded down?

      • freefall101 on 25/03/2025 - 14:01
        +7

        Assuming that those 11 million customers are all paying cash and all of them had a transaction up by 2c, they would be $220,000 a month, or $2.64m per year. With Bunnings having revenue of $19B, this would increase their revenue by 0.001% per annum.

        I can see how quickly it adds up, it adds up extremely slowly to not at all (since they need to round down too).

        I'm having flashbacks to over 20 years ago when I worked in a petrol station, watching people get to exactly $10, then trying to go 2c over. Then they'd wind up going way over and getting pissed off that I made them pay for it.

        • Assburg on 25/03/2025 - 17:52
          -4

          Conflated revenue with profit silly post try again

          • freefall101 on 25/03/2025 - 18:03
            +4

            @Assburg: Nope, their revenue would increase by that amount.

            You might assume that profit would increase by the same amount, but not necessarily so. As part of their "money grabbing" scheme, Bunnings would have needed to lobby the government over 30 years ago in order to get them to phase out 1 and 2 cent coins, then pay someone to devise a pricing and store structure so that every transaction wound up being up rounded up to 2 cents, maintaining it across all their stock levels without hurting sales. For example, people like OP might abandon Bunnings over the additional 20 cents they've paid on thousands of dollars of purchases.

            A psychological warfare against the consumer to ensure they don't accidentally spend $100.02 wouldn't come keep.

            I'd be more worried about how I screwed up my decimal place, it should have been 0.01%.

        • AustriaBargain on 26/03/2025 - 02:54

          Seems like it's just as likely to round down as round up. Plus how many are paying cash vs using their card or after pay at the checkout?

        • iguana on 27/03/2025 - 14:33

          Gold. The dregs of society always trying to scam.

      • Antikythera on 26/03/2025 - 17:54

        11m customers

        20% round up 1c
        20% round up 2c

        20% round down 1c
        20% round down 2c
        20% round down 3c

        1c and 2c cancel each other out.
        total costs Bunnings $66,000 a month.

        edit: I'm bad at math. there is no 3c case. it all cancels out. net zero effect.

        • Tleyx on 27/03/2025 - 08:23

          Assjming all ending amoints are evenly distributed but they may not be. Lots of people buy one prodict so the ending price of those is not random

        • surfingedge on 27/03/2025 - 17:56

          How many of the 11m customers are paying cash?

          As an aside in NZ the smallest coin is 10c and 5c is rounded up, so it's slightly in favour of the merchant

    • AlbiesDad on 25/03/2025 - 16:45
      +19

      I would've paid OP $2 not to write this post.

    • Dr Phil on 26/03/2025 - 08:25
      +9

      The law states that retailers must round to the nearest 5 or 10 cents.

      Under the Guideline the following rounding principles apply to cash transactions:
      1 & 2 cents – rounded DOWN to the nearest 10
      3 & 4 cents – rounded UP to the nearest 5
      6 & 7 cents – rounded DOWN to the nearest 5
      8 & 9 cents – rounded UP to the nearest 10

      see here:

      https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/rounding-and-eftpos-tr…

      • viper8548 on 26/03/2025 - 14:15

        common sense pretty much lol

  • pegaxs on 25/03/2025 - 08:06
    +19

    The only time I have had them round up or round down is when I have been using cash. If I use gc or EFTPOS, it is always to the dollar and cents.

    • surfingedge on 26/03/2025 - 12:16
      +1

      You don't understand how Bunnings gift cards work then

      • browser on 26/03/2025 - 18:36

        Can you please explain? Did you they round up/down gift card balance as well? So the balance is always multiple of 5 cents?

        Even so, not everyone uses gift card. I have been to no less than 30 bunnings, hundreds of times, never once the person in front paid using gift card. So, possibly a rare occurance.

        • surfingedge on 26/03/2025 - 20:01
          +1

          Unlike gift cards from other stores, Bunnings gift cards are like banknotes, they don't hold a balance and they can only be used once.

          If you buy something for $11 and pay with a $100 note, you get back a $50 note, a $20 note, a $10 note, a $5 note and $4 in coins

          If you buy something for $11 and pay with a $100 gift card, you get back a $50 gc, $20 gc, $10 gc and $9 in cash

          So if your total doesn't end in 0 or 5 cents, rounding will apply.

          • browser on 26/03/2025 - 20:14

            @surfingedge: Thanks for explaining, so their gift cards are like vouchers, the smallest denomination is $10.

  • joshash on 25/03/2025 - 08:12
    +5

    I put all of the Bunnings prices in a computer.
    I found that in approximately 89.458% of cases where some rounding is required - the sum of a random selection of Bunnings products comes out as being rounded up (total ends in x3, x4, x8 or x9 cents).

    There is a huge consultancy, embedded in the WEF - it's massive - that takes on this complex mathematical modelling on behalf of companies.

    • SpainKing on 25/03/2025 - 21:31

      So OP has a point, it doesn't even out in the wash like the majority of other comments imply. 10% of the time it works out to the benefit of the customer and the other 90 it's in Bunnings' favour. Probably why they all love setting prices at $x.99. What was the min/max quantity for your selection of random products?

    • CodeXD on 25/03/2025 - 21:37
      +3

      This is assuming everyone is only buying ONE item and checking out with cash

    • bweiss on 26/03/2025 - 17:53

      Is this for a single item purchase? Do people really go into Bunnings and only buy one thing?
      Because if I buy an x.x3 and an x.x4, that results in y.y7 which rounds down… so two wrongs make a right…
      Noting however that x.x4 and x.x4 results in y.y8 which rounds up.. so two wrongs also make a wrong..
      Overall I just wonder how many Wongs it would actually take to truly prove out the maths here… or is that just feeding into a racial stereotype?

    • browser on 26/03/2025 - 18:47

      It's unlikely any corporation would waste time and resources, let alone hiring consultant firms, to game the round up system that is only applicable when paying cash.

      Remember they set the price, they could easily set all the prices without rounding, customers are going to pay anyway.

      If they care about round up so much, they just set the price to the round up price, why would they risk a round down scenario?

      Also, do you think more people shop at Bunnings or Woolworths? Woolworths never bothered to fixed the 2 cents rounding lost (though Coles did).

  • MS Paint on 25/03/2025 - 08:22
    +4

    It has added up to significant but not a huge amount

    Just tell us how much to assess the validity of your claim.

    • Hydrool on 25/03/2025 - 14:08

      At 2c, if they round up 100 time it’s $2

  • tenpercent on 25/03/2025 - 08:30
    +5

    Rounding should be to the nearest 5 cents.

    https://www.consumerprotection.wa.gov.au/rounding
    https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/rounding-and-eftpos-tr…

    The only time rounding should be going up 2 cents is when the cents amount ends in 3 or 8. e.g. $1.03, $5.13, $2.08, $10.38 go up to $1.05, $5.15, $2.10, $10.40.

    Please check your working out.

    • JimmyF on 25/03/2025 - 08:56
      +3

      Please check your working out.

      I feel OP isn't counting the times it went down….. They also seems to say they are paying with giftcard at times, which shouldn't have any rounding on it at all. Rounding only applies to cash.

      • surfingedge on 26/03/2025 - 12:16
        +1

        Bunnings gift cards work like cash

        • JimmyF on 26/03/2025 - 15:16
          -1

          Bunnings gift cards work like cash

          Only if there is 'change' under $10.

          OP could buy a extra giftcard, so it is pushed over the $10 change limit and then pay with a card to save 1/2c.

  • JimmyF on 25/03/2025 - 08:53

    Bunnings 2c Rounding up/down shortchanging

    LOL it is not shortchanging, they are operating as per the law.

    How many times have you gotten 1 or 2 cents go in your way instead of theirs?

  • GordonD on 25/03/2025 - 08:55
    +2

    Because of pricing policies that try to trick people with prices that end in 99 cents, it is possibly a fact that a lot more prices end in 9 (or 8) and get rounded up than end in 6 or 7 and get rounded down. So over the whole economy rounding up is benefitting businesses more than rounding down costs them.

    And I've caught businesses plenty of times rounding up EFTPOS transactions when they should only be rounding cash transactions.

    • JimmyF on 25/03/2025 - 09:00
      +3

      So over the whole economy rounding up is benefitting businesses more than rounding down costs them.

      Rounding only applies to cash payments. So I doubt Bunnings has a secret business plan to make money via rounding. They are following the law for when 1 and 2 cents had been removed from circulation.

    • browser on 26/03/2025 - 18:57

      And I've caught businesses plenty of times rounding up EFTPOS transactions when they should only be rounding cash transactions.

      Haha, this place I go to the cashier/owner also round up credit card surcharge :D

      She's friendly and I like to dine there, so do not want to ruin it over a few cents.

  • Euphemistic on 25/03/2025 - 09:09
    +9

    You need to work the system better then. If it should be rounded down, pay with cash. If it should be rounded up, pay with eftpos.

    It will add up to a "significant but not a huge amount"

    Back in the good old days when i ussd cash, i used to make sure i always filled my car up to a figure ending in 2 or 7 so i always got 2c worth of fuel for free.

    • tenpercent on 25/03/2025 - 09:39
      +13

      Servos don't want you to know this one weird trick

      • CocaKoala on 25/03/2025 - 21:15
        +6

        Man retires aged 31 with 12 properties after learning this one servo hack.

    • truetypezk on 25/03/2025 - 23:02

      If you like, you can always ask to pay by eftpos for 2c less so the remaining 2c gets rounded off. E.g. the item is $9.99 and you ask to pay $9.97 on card. Only extremely limited merchants (Target being one of them) have systems in place to prevent you from paying as such.

      • surfingedge on 26/03/2025 - 12:21
        +1

        What happens when you do this in target?

        At Coles if you buy stuff to $9.99 then split payment with $9.97 on card it will say $0.02 left to pay. Put in a 5c coin and you will get a 5c coin back (it won't be the same coin!)

        Obviously this doesn't work at card only machines, it will ask you to pay the 2c by card.

        • whyisave on 26/03/2025 - 12:46

          Love this level of 'ingenuity' 👌

        • truetypezk on 26/03/2025 - 23:10
          +1

          Coles cash+card machine should write off the 2c directly IIRC, just click the cash button and that's it. I think Kmart is the one behaving like you have mentioned.
          Target cash+card machine won't let you make the card payment if you intentionally leave a 2c gap, which kind of reflects the 2c rounding is not as insignificant as some people here think. Otherwise why would they bother to spend the extra efforts to cater to this scenario?

          • surfingedge on 27/03/2025 - 18:16

            @truetypezk: Right, so what happens if you pay 7c or 12c less at Target?

            • truetypezk on 28/03/2025 - 17:27

              @surfingedge: It says something like rounding tenders not allowed IIRC. I reckon they should have catered to most situations carefully.
              Didnt really bother trying that hard for a 2c rounding lol.

      • kiitos on 26/03/2025 - 13:03

        Does that really work? I'd be pretty annoyed as a retailer if asked to do this.

    • Doyen on 27/03/2025 - 01:21

      Just fill the car with 7c of fuel, pay with 5c piece and rinse and repeat until the car is full.

      Get an instant 29% discount. It may take all day to fill the tank, but cheap fuel.

  • holdenmg on 25/03/2025 - 09:10
    +2

    Given that 1c and 2c are involved, I'd note the price of Copper (which is ironically something Bunnings sell (in various forms).
    https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/copper

    Disclaimer: This isn't financial advice and neither is anything the Treasurer says later today. lol

  • Fredfloresjr on 25/03/2025 - 09:19
    +3

    Send me your BSB i'll give you $2 to fix your problem.

    • Baysew on 25/03/2025 - 12:20
      +6

      092-009

      • MS Paint on 25/03/2025 - 12:23
        +4

        BSB Number: 092-009
        Institution: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)
        Branch Name: Canberra
        Address:20-22 London Circuit, Canberra, ACT, 2601

  • FireRunner on 25/03/2025 - 09:27

    Are you saying they round 2c to 5c?
    Like $10.02 gets rounded up to $10.05, if true then Bunnings is doing something wrong.
    Otherwise I’m not sure what you’re trying to say, if you pay cash it needs to round to the nearest 5c (up or down) since it’s the smallest denomination of our currency

    • jv on 25/03/2025 - 09:36
      -1

      if true then Bunnings is doing something wrong.

      It's not true, my bunnings receipt from the other day is not rounded…

  • MS Paint on 25/03/2025 - 09:32
    +6

    I use this simple way to make a profit when visiting Bunnings.

    Purchase cheapest item you can find in store. It's easy to find something under 5¢. Keep the receipt. Wait for Google rewards survey to appear about your visit (generally appears within 24 hours). Answer survey and make sure to select "and I have a receipt". Upload the receipt. This survey earns on average 34¢. That's 29¢ profit.*

    *Excludes expenses like fuel and time.

  • jv on 25/03/2025 - 09:36

    Wondering how many have noticed and of this is a price strategy?

    I just checked my last Bunnings receipt and there is no rounding…

    • JimmyF on 25/03/2025 - 09:41

      But did you pay with cash…… and did the total end in a 1/2/3/4/6/7/8 or 9?

      • jv on 25/03/2025 - 09:42

        What's cash ?

        jv on 25/03/2025 - 09:42 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
        • JimmyF on 25/03/2025 - 13:32

          There is your problem….

          • jv on 25/03/2025 - 13:36

            @JimmyF: Why is it a 'problem' ?

  • ThithLord on 25/03/2025 - 09:50

    What an odd thing to be indignant about.

  • Porker on 25/03/2025 - 10:23
    +6

    You'd be surprised at what lengths people go to save quite literally a few cents.

    My wife is a pharmacist and she told me of a situation where a customer was trying to price match a difference of $0.02. My wife's store sold the product for $5.99 where another sold the same item for $5.97. The store selling the cheaper product was out of stock which is why the customer went into my wife's store.

    Customer complains loudly in store about the price difference, demands a price match and then proceeds to pay with cash. My wife gave $0.05 change so customer ended up ahead. Overall interaction took about 10 minutes with other waiting customers.

    • jv on 25/03/2025 - 10:46
      -2

      where a customer was trying to price match a difference of $0.02

      ADHD maybe?

      • outlander on 25/03/2025 - 13:45

        Thats not how adhd works

        • jv on 25/03/2025 - 13:46
          +1

          How does it work?

      • changyang1230 on 25/03/2025 - 14:42
        +1

        You are probably thinking of OCD.

    • truetypezk on 25/03/2025 - 23:05
      -4

      Well if that is true I would say it is your wife's fault and incompetence to waste everyone 10 mins over a simple price match, which could be easily done in 10 seconds.

      • Porker on 26/03/2025 - 00:47
        +2

        Perhaps I was expecting too much in terms of reading between the lines.

        I'll explain it more clearly - the customer was deliberately making a fuss, wanted an explanation for the price difference and wanted to waste time. No amount of customer service is going to help with a person on this type of mission.

        • truetypezk on 26/03/2025 - 23:17

          You said the customer just asked for a price match? If it is the pharmacy's policy to allow price matches, it should be matched swiftly at request regardless of how small the difference is. If he later chooses to pay by cash then rounding off the 2c is also exactly as required by law. I don't see why you would consider such customer "making a fuss".

  • Wiadro on 25/03/2025 - 10:38
    +1

    Karen has found the internet

  • wetsandwich on 25/03/2025 - 11:15
    +2

    Oh dear.

    I wouldn't even think about bending over to pick up a 5, 10, or even 20c piece given they have basically zero value and can't buy anything at all.

    How much money do you think you're losing here - maybe 15 cents per year????

    This has to be a troll post.

    • bobbified on 25/03/2025 - 19:23

      It's 'nothing' for most people, but f you go into a shop and you're short by $0.05, there's a pretty good chance you're not going to be leaving the store with whatever it was you were trying to buy.

      • Wiser on 25/03/2025 - 22:53

        That is true.
        You may end up paying with $50 and return with a bag of change.

    • Sammy2000 on 26/03/2025 - 07:52

      I don't know what to do with these 5 cent coins either. It costs too much to drive to the bank and deposit them.
      I would have to fill my car with $10.02 of petrol then park for 59 minutes in the 1 hour parking. I only get 30 minutes for a lunch break so this wouldn't add up. I am wasting too much free parking time.

      • surfingedge on 26/03/2025 - 12:23

        Go to a cash checkout at colesworth and pour them in. If you don't do grocery shopping there - at some point there must be a gift card offer that suits

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 25/03/2025 - 11:17
    +3

    Thank you for giving us your 2c worth.

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 25/03/2025 - 11:18
      +5

      Sorry, make that 5c.

      • Jono05 on 25/03/2025 - 12:15
        +5

        2c gets rounded down so 0c worth…

        • Gareth on 25/03/2025 - 12:33
          +3

          true value.

        • BewareOfThe Dog on 25/03/2025 - 22:54

          Not according to OP. Lol.

  • changyang1230 on 25/03/2025 - 12:01
    +3

    This reminds me of my ultimate ozbargain tricks I used to do as a poor uni student.

    While eftpos and credit card always rounded to the nearest cents, cash always rounded to the nearest 5c.

    So if my total cost comes up being 11.52, I would ask to cash out 9.98 cents such as it costs 21.50 in total but I get 10 dollars.

    2 cents profit each shop, over one year you make 3.12 dollars assuming 3 shops a week.

    • JimmyF on 25/03/2025 - 13:36
      +3

      I would ask to cash out 9.98 cents such as it costs 21.50 in total but I get 10 dollars.

      That is some crazy hack you found that could turn 9.98 CENTS into 10 DOLLARS……

    • truetypezk on 25/03/2025 - 23:11

      In a certain country at a certain casino, slot machines print out cashable vouchers. You take the voucher to a cash-out machine, which rounds up/down the cents. Guess what, the minimal play on the slot machine is 1c.
      By having 2c worths of free play each round, you can make about $50/hr completely risk-free.
      So don't look down on the 2c, it can turn into something reasonable.

      • Crow K on 26/03/2025 - 00:08

        Alright, $50 an hour is $0.83 a minute

        If your scheme (which I don't fully understand but seems to be) is putting 3 cents into the machine and then printing a voucher that you then feed into the cashout machine that rounds up to a 5 cent refund, giving you 2 free cents, you need to complete that entire procedure 42 times in a minute to make $0.84 a minute, which means you can do the entire thing in .. 1.5 seconds?

        Have I misunderstood the process or is your maths way off?

        • truetypezk on 26/03/2025 - 23:19
          -1

          It is a SLOT MACHINE, you gamble with the 2c. You don't just get 2 free cents. If you lose, you lose nothing. If you win, it depends on your luck.

          • Crow K on 27/03/2025 - 01:16

            @truetypezk: Alright, so if you put 2 cents into the machine and you win, you can keep increasing your stake [assuming you keep winning], and when you choose to you can collect a voucher and get that amount as cash [rounded up to the nearest 5 cents, I guess?

            What happens if when you push the button, no matches come up and you lose? The machine goes from displaying $0.02 credit to what exactly? $0.01? It stays at $0.02? $0.00?

            • truetypezk on 28/03/2025 - 17:33

              @Crow K: You cant put 2c into the machine. I used to buy a big bunch of $10 chips on credit card (yes it used to be allowed at that particular casino), put 1 each into the slot machine each time for a $10 play value, play 1c on 2 lines and print out the cash out vouchers immediately regardless of the result. I usually hog 3-4 adjacent machines and play them in pipeline at the same time, and then take the big bunch of cash out vouchers to the cash out machine at the end of the play to exchange them into cash.
              Back in the days I could get up to 5% rebate in the credit card transactions alone, and about $50/hr for the slot machine play. It was definitely a health income for a student, although arguably a pure waste of time. And yeah back then students with no real income could also get credit cards with healthy limits.

    • whyisave on 26/03/2025 - 12:51

      Brilliant 💪

  • Ocker on 25/03/2025 - 12:11
    +1

    Another 1st world problem

    • JimmyF on 25/03/2025 - 13:36
      +1

      Its only going to get worse….. The world is farked.

  • Jono05 on 25/03/2025 - 12:16

    River of tears.

  • DealhunterMelbourne on 25/03/2025 - 12:29
    +9

    This has got to be one of those epic ozbargain troll threads like the guy who was using the park bbq for his domestic water heating…

    • lunchbox99 on 25/03/2025 - 12:50
      +3

      lol that story is truly the stuff of OzB legend

    • tenpercent on 25/03/2025 - 19:54

      link?

  • expertreader on 25/03/2025 - 12:44

    I would give you a tissue but it would be worth 5c after rounding up and thats too much to solve a 2c issue.

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