Archived Quick Question Target.com Red+TM discount 14%???

[PJ5]

Hi, I placed two orders on Targets website and it shows the red card and tm discount and under the discounts area it shows "You saved 14%" for both orders, i should have saved $30 on one order but i saved $29 and as such with the other order. I don't understand, it's supposed to be 15% (scratches head).

 

[commiecorvus]

One of the fun parts of living with a a math teacher was getting to watch her dress people down when they told her you could stack discounts and they would come to X amount.
It really doesn't work that way.
You take your 10% off
Then you take your 5% off of the resulting amount.
You aren't getting 15% of the total.
It's a tiny bit more than 14% but that's safe.

 

[sigma7]

It comes out to 14.5%. Math and statistics classes are fun. Stats is where you learn that we are not wired to intuitively understand statistics and percentages, and that statistics and percentages are not inherently intuitive in the first place!

Subtotal * 0.9 * 0.95 = Pretax Total, so

$200 * 90% = $180,
$180 * 95% = $171,
$200 - $171 = $29.

200 * 0.855 = $29.

Leaders will say you're saving 15%, but it's really 14.5%. Using two sig figs makes it sound better though. I'm not sure why the website is rounding down 14.5 to 14 instead of rounding it up to 15 or just leaving it as 14.5. I had the same thing when I did a recent online order and did a double take for a second.

 

[Amaazingdude]

Hi, I placed two orders on Targets website and it shows the red card and tm discount and under the discounts area it shows "You saved 14%" for both orders, i should have saved $30 on one order but i saved $29 and as such with the other order. I don't understand, it's supposed to be 15% (scratches head).

Say your total is $10. With your team member discount you save 10 percent. Bringing your total too $9. Than using your red card you save 5 percent which comes off the new total of $9. Bringing your total too $8.55.

 

[redeye58]

Leaders will say you're saving 15%, but it's really 14.5%.

Because they either don't know their math or they fudge it to make it sound better for guests.

 

[PJ5]

It's strange, if i spend $100 and have 15% off that should be $85, not $84. Math was never my strong suit but 10% off and 5% off would be 15% off which is $15 off a $100, Target university is scrambling my brain But thank you for trying to explain

 

[Retail Girl]

It's strange, if i spend $100 and have 15% off that should be $85, not $84. Math was never my strong suit but 10% off and 5% off would be 15% off which is $15 off a $100, Target university is scrambling my brain But thank you for trying to explain

Let's try again. What you are trying to do is take 10% off $100. This is correct. That's $90. Yay! You've saved $90!

But, wait! You have a REDcard! You can save an extra 5%! Rock on! But, the problem is, you are hoping to be able to save that extra 5% by taking 5% off the original $100. But you can't do that.

Instead, you have to take the 5% off the new total of $90.

So instead of taking off $5, it takes off $4.50, leaving you at $85.50.

This means you save $14.50 instead of 15%.

In short, you can't add percent savings up. They have to be applied one at a time, and get the new total, and then apply the new one.

 

[RedMan]

Wait til poohbear buys a house and tries to figure out why his $300,000. house costs him over $650,000. Maths is hard.

 

[sigma7]

What you're thinking the discount should be:

200 - [(200 * 0.10) - (200 * 0.05)] = 170
200 - (20 + 10) = 170
200 - 30 = 170

How the discounts actually stack:

200 - {[200 * 0.10]+ [(200 - {200 * 0.10}) * 0.05]} = 171
200 - {20 + [(200 - 20) * 0.05]} = 171
200 - {20 + [180 * 0.05]} =171
200 - {20 + 9} = 171
200 - 29 = 171

This is a different approach using the nominal discount versus my previous post where you figure the discount as a percentage of the subtotal.

To sum up, discounts do not add up and then apply to the subtotal. They are applied to the subtotal in series.

If I have 100 apples and you take 10%, then I have 90 apples and you have 10. If you take 5% more of my apples, then you have taken 4 and 1/2 more apples. So now I have 85.5 apples and you have 14.5 apples. The apples I have represent the the percentage of the original subtotal that you are paying. The apples you have represent the total discount you received.

 

[signingminion]

But how do you solve for it using common math? Lol.

 

[redeye58]

It's like using your Rx rewards on top of the others; you can stack discounts one after the other but you can't add them together to take away.
$200 item - TM discount = $180 ($20 from $200)
$180 - redcard discount = $171 ($9 from $180)
$171 - Rx reward = $162.45 ($8.55 from $171)
Discounts are taken one after the other, not totaled & subtracted.

 

[sigma7]

I can write it in increasingly convoluted ways since that's math, but I really think my original post or anyone else's post is the simplest way. It's essential to remember that the discounts are percentages off your subtotal and not set dollar amounts off. It's not really cheaper pricing either, unless you look at it that you pay 10% less as a team member, and then you get 5% off the lesser price since you're a redcard holder.

 

[mrknownothing]

The way the discounts are applied is similar to the way compounding interest works, except in the opposite direction.

 

[PJ5]

Okay i caught on the discounts aren't added all at once, the 10% is added right away and the 5% is added to the total after the 10%. I just thought it was 15% at total, thank you

 

[sigma7]

No problem! It's a bit deceiving because most people just say you save 15% with your redcard and TM discount. It's close, but not quite.

 

[SFSFun]

No problem! It's a bit deceiving because most people just say you save 15% with your redcard and TM discount. It's close, but not quite.

It's just easier to say. When friends ask me how much my discount is at Target, I say 15%. Because if I told people it was 14.5% they would probably want an explanation.

 

[sigma7]

I say 15% too, but it doesn't change the fact that you're not saving 15%. A half of a percent doesn't make too much of a difference until you hit larger numbers, but that still doesn't make 14.5 = 15. I just like talking about math.