on 3/10/01 13:40, Gordon Neault at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > 3) GST is good. > > A major sore with Canadians, the GST is despised nearly universally.
At risk of going off topic (well, it seems OT is quite acceptable in this mailing list ;)... I think (for some) it's the visibility of GST that causes it to be despised (&, for many others, a lack of realisation as to why taxes are collected ;). It drives me NUTS having to calculate PST/GST on every damn thing I purchase. Retailers use this little loop-hole, along with the 99 trick to deceive customers *all* the time. If a computer is advertised for $1999 it'll end up being $2300. I'm not prone to that sort of self-delusion but I see it *all* the time in people who are otherwise educated and mathematically astute. They submit themselves to the mind-game the retailers play. You see a price advertised and that is not the price you pay. You go to dinner, what you pay is not what you ate. I have come across a few retailers and restaurants that include the tax in the price and it is a rare treat. These places also tend not to use the banal 99, 97, 95, 49, 47 trick (usually if I see a 99 or 47 ad I ignore it because they're trying to make it seem cheaper than it is). Retailers really need a good kick in the @$!#$^ if they try to use such deceptive practices. & FYI a comment on the 99 trick: apparently M$ priced Windows 2000 (or was it XP) at 1999 units of Chinese currency (whatever it is). People were apparently so insulted by the attempted deception by M$ that the response is to increase piracy (already at 90%) of Windows to teach M$ a lesson. L8r, Eric. -- Mac Canada is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Shop Canadian, visit Mantek Services <http://www.mantek.mb.ca> Low Prices That Will Keep YOU and Your MAC Smiling Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Mac Canada info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/mac-can.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-canada%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
