On Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:07:36 +0000, Invisible wrote:

>>> So, what, you literally sit down and check all of the thousands of
>>> transactions you make, one at a time, to make sure every single one
>>> matches the printed recipt?
>>
>> Yes, I thought everyone does that.
> 
> Well, this is the first time I've heard of it. I don't think even my
> sister does this - and she's a qualified accountant!
> 
> (Heck, my mum doesn't even bother opening her bank statements when they
> arrive. Then again, I'm pretty sure that's unique to her. Strange
> person...)

Of course, I was kidding, hopefully you caught that in the rest of my 
reply. :-)

>> So realistically, no, I don't check every single item.  But if I'm out
>> shopping, I have a vague idea of how much the items I've bought come
>> to, and if the receipt shows a different value than I expect, then I do
>> get an adjustment.
> 
> Yeah, sure. I get that. But usually by the time you get the receipt,
> you've already paid. So I'm still not sure what use the actual piece of
> paper is. (Unless you're really going to check that the number on your
> bank statement actually matches the number on the receipt and the card
> reader...)

If I know I only bought one widget at CostCo and they charged me for 2, 
then I know there's something wrong, and I can get it corrected before I 
leave the store.

>> I've also had occasions where a clerk has double-entered an item and
>> not realized it, and I use the receipt to get that corrected as well.
> 
> That doesn't happen very often. (Fortunately!) About the only time I've
> seen this is in a busy restaurant. (This also just happens to be about
> the only place where you get an itemised list *before* you hand over the
> money.)

You'd be surprised at how often it really happens.  It's more common in 
places that use a barcode scanner to scan items into the register, 
sometimes it gets double-scanned (I've seen that more frequently than I 
would have expected), or when an item is scanned and then a quantity 
entered (for example, you buy 5 frozen pizzas and the clerk miskeys and 
hits '8' instead).

>> It's called "money management".  If I don't have at least an awareness
>> of how much I'm spending, I might end up overdrawn, and that incurs
>> more fees.  People make mistakes, and a receipt is a good tool for
>> catching those mistakes.
> 
> Oh hell, I have literally *no idea* how much money is in my account. My
> technique is to just avoid spending money as much as possible.

Well, surely that is one way that could work, as long as you don't go 
into overdraft.  A better way is to check your account balance 
periodically (I do that as well) to make sure there's still money there.

Otherwise you also wouldn't know if someone fraudulently used your 
account for something.

Jim

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