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

    • whyisave on 26/03/2025 - 12:55

      Have an issue?
      Here's a tissue.

  • Some Guy on 25/03/2025 - 13:05
    +2

    Richard Prior did this in Superman 3 and bought a Ferrari.

  • Brotality on 25/03/2025 - 14:02

    Ctrl + F -> Office Space

    Nothing…

  • Juice-Wa on 25/03/2025 - 14:08
    +4

    If you really cared about your $$ to this degree, you wouldn't shop at Bunnings but rather shop at individual trade suppliers.

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

    You either got the giftcards as a gift, or you've done some cashback/discounts on the giftcards worth thousands. If it's a gift, I'm not sure why you would sook over free stuff. If you bought the GC yourself (which seems likely), obviously you had a savings justification to do so and your gain would phenomenally outweigh an extra 2c per transaction.

    Lets say you've averaged one transaction per day over the year, you're looking at up to $7.30 lost.

    It has added up to significant but not a huge amount of lost $$

    If it really is a significant value, you should blame yourself for your inefficiencies leading to more transactions than necessary. Can't imagine the cost of fuel for all your trips.

    If this is a significant bother to you, I am amazed at how you manage to function in society.

    • MS Paint on 25/03/2025 - 14:13

      We will never know. OP has post 'n' ghost.

      After reconciling with my budget

      Perhaps the spreadsheet they are using to reconcile is rounding up as well.

  • Bren20 on 25/03/2025 - 14:18
    +6

    I've gone ahead and analysed my spending at Bunnings over the last few years, excluding sausages.

    last decimal how many times
    0 41
    1 7
    2 17
    3 7
    4 12
    5 12
    6 12
    7 9
    8 9
    9 11
    total no rounding 53
    total round down 45
    total round up 39

    Overall I get rounding down slightly more frequently than rounding up.
    it's interesting that 'no rounding' is very common.

  • Chandler on 25/03/2025 - 17:56
    +2

    OP doesn't make cents, cheers!

    • MS Paint on 25/03/2025 - 17:58
      +1

      That makes sense. Cheers

      • tenpercent on 25/03/2025 - 19:56

        This makes scents. Cheers

  • tomsco on 25/03/2025 - 20:14
    +2

    How do posts like this even happen?

    • Daabido on 25/03/2025 - 21:26
      +1

      One silly thought at a time.

  • brad1-8tsi on 25/03/2025 - 20:23
    +3

    Welcome back to 1992 when people complained about rounding up. 1c & 2c coins are still legal tender so if you can collect some of those you can give the correct change.

    Maybe split the payment & pay in 5c increments with the gift card & the 2c on your credit card?

  • CocaKoala on 25/03/2025 - 21:20

    Cry me a river.

  • Wiser on 25/03/2025 - 22:57

    Remember Herald sun price was $0.99 years back and you pay $1
    They wouldn't put the price as $1 as their GST payment will go up.

    • Crow K on 26/03/2025 - 00:22

      $0.99 is what you pay at the newsagency/shops to buy the paper from the retailer (who then puts a portion of it on their BAS with their GST payments).

      The $0.99 (or $1) isn't collected by the Herald Sun?

  • Kiro on 25/03/2025 - 23:22

    I'm not sure you understand, because legal tender smallest denomination is 5 cents, they have to round up or dowb. If you total lands on a 3 or 4 cents it rounds up but if your total is 1 or 2 cents then it goes down.

    This was put into effect when they passed out the 1 and 2 cent coins.

    And yes paying by card does not get affected by rounding.

  • SuperMid on 26/03/2025 - 08:52
    -2

    People defending billion dollar big corporates and shitting on every day people, welcome to 2025.

  • Randolph Duke on 26/03/2025 - 09:16
    +2

    OP should institute the following rule to maximise savings:

    • price ends in .x6, .x7 -> pay cash to get rounding down
    • price ends in .x8, .x9 -> pay by gift card or debit/credit card to avoid rounding up
  • foursaken on 26/03/2025 - 09:24

    This is peak stupid.

    I'm really impressed. This place can be bad, but wow. Outdone itself here.

  • haemolysis on 26/03/2025 - 09:50
    -1

    The strangest part of this absurdity is most of the power is in the consumer hands here. If you want correct change you can pay by EFT, or even split a transaction into multiple. Meanwhile if the rounding is in your favour, (which it often is,) you can pay cash and profit extra $0.01 lol.

    But sure. Complain about something that is both compliant with the law and has been standard practice in business for over 100 years.

  • zathras on 26/03/2025 - 09:50

    OP, you could have beaten Bunnings at their own game.
    Instead of buying one thing at a time, you should have bought multiple.

    If you bought one item at $xx.99 it will round UP to the nearest dollar (they get an extra 1c from you).
    But if you bought three items at $xx.99, it would total $xx.97, and they would be forced to round DOWN to $xx.95.

    Then you could have walked out of the Bunnings with your head held high, waving the 5c coin above your head, and proclaiming your triumph to the world.

    • surfingedge on 26/03/2025 - 12:51

      With Bunnings gift cards you get the change as cash (and new gift cards for multiples of $10).

      Suppose you have purchased Bunnings gift cards at 5% off (as with the recent Coles offer).

      If you spend $41 on a $50 GC you will get $9 back in cash. So your $41 item cost $38.95 and you paid $8.55 for the $9 in cash.

      Alternatively you can say you paid $38.50 for the items which makes the gift card 6% off instead of 5%.

      So rather than trying to get your total to end in 1/2/6/7 cents, because of the way Bunnings has decided to implement their gift cards, it is more profitable to try and get your total as close to, but not below, $X0.03.

      Of course if you really have a lot of time to waste you can also try and find the optimal combination of prices to end in 1/2/6/7 as well as maximising the change in cash.

  • Captain Cardigan on 26/03/2025 - 13:04

    Rounding up & down started back in the early 90s.
    I wonder if OP has been yelling at clouds since then?

  • chiuy on 26/03/2025 - 15:03

    Everyone knows to pay cash if it round down, and card if it rounds up (without surcharge).
    You can save like whole dollars a year by doing this. lol

  • AssociatedNitrollparty @ Bunnings Warehouse on 26/03/2025 - 15:46
    +1

    another day…another karen

  • noz on 26/03/2025 - 18:03

    I hope to God that this is a troll post .. otherwise this is beyond embarrassing

  • FW190 on 26/03/2025 - 19:57

    assuming the OP is paying cash, then businesses has been rounding to the nearest 5c since………. last the 15-20 years?

    not even sure if 1c and 2c coins are still legal tender to be honest……..

    • surfingedge on 26/03/2025 - 20:06
      +1

      1c and 2c coins are still legal tender (up to a maximum of 20 cents),.

      However in common law countries, legal tender does not mean that they must be accepted in transactions. It just means that if you owe someone money and have offered to pay them in legal tender, they can't sue you for the debt.

      • FW190 on 26/03/2025 - 21:27

        ok thx

        I thought 1c and 2c coins were phased out a long time ago, didn't realised they are still legal.

        • whyisave on 27/03/2025 - 04:38

          I thought 1c and 2c coins were phased out a long time ago, didn't realised they are still legal.

          Royal Australian Mint - FAQ
          https://www.ramint.gov.au/frequently-asked-questions

          When were 1c & 2c coins taken out of circulation?
          The last circulating one cent coins were dated 1990 and the last circulating two cent coins were dated 1989. They were progressively removed from circulation starting in 1992.

          Are 1c & 2c coins still legal tender?
          Yes, 1c and 2c pieces are still Australian legal tender, but they are not considered as ‘currency’ (or, money that is officially released for circulation). This means that you can take your old 1c and 2c coins to the bank and exchange them for currency totalling the same face value.

  • will05 on 27/03/2025 - 14:54

    recover from ato or join cashback sites

  • uccoffee on 27/03/2025 - 16:54

    so you should always pay with card, and pay 2 cents less, then pay cash with the last 2 cents

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