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...And 99¢

164 statements
29 feature instances
27 referencing feature instances

...And 99¢	type	FeatureClass
...And 99¢	label	...And 99¢
...And 99¢	page	AndNinetyNineCents
...And 99¢	comment	When the screaming infomercial finally reaches the point of telling you the price you can be sure that price won't be a round number. Nothing will be sold for $10.00, $50.00 or $100.00. Every price will end with .95, .98 or .99. This trope isn't restricted to TV commercials. Real world pricing follows this trend as well, and has for a long time. Gas stations even go so far as to price gasoline in tenths of a cent, despite the obvious impossibility of paying in tenths of a cent. Wikipedia refers to this as "psychological pricing". This particular technique is known as "just-under pricing", and is a psychological tactic to make an item seem cheaper than it actually is. The premise is that people are usually mindless when doing their everyday business, and most advertisements and shopping places are specially designed to avoid having their customers become mindful and give as few cues as possible to wake up the viewer's consciousness; therefore, displaying a price of "$29.99" will, in theory, result in some people mistakingly reading "$20.00". In addition, making the most significant digit smaller (or removing an entire digit, if the price is an exact power of 10) also makes the price look less intimidating; "$9999", therefore, subconsciously looks smaller than "$10000" for the sole reason that the former price has 4 figures and the latter has 5. Another theory says this method of pricing was originally designed to prevent cashiers from pocketing payments. A price ending with .99 almost guarantees that the cashier will need to open the register to get change, which then logs the sale in the register. This trope also plays an advantage for the retailer in countries like Japan, South Korea, Chile or Colombia, where one unit of their currency has a very small purchasing power (as of 24 May 2020, 1 USD can be respectively exchanged for 107 yen, 1242 won, 809 Chilean pesos or 3775 Colombian pesos). Simply sell a pack of rice for $32,990 Colombian pesos (about 9 US dollars), receive $33,000 Colombian pesos as payment, pocket the whole money because the smallest coin is worth 50 COP and thus returning 10 COP of change is physically impossible, repeat 38 thousand times (which can easily happen in a single day if you're a big box supermarket), and voilà — 100 free US dollars worth of undelivered change. The trope has become so prevalent and ingrained that people automatically round prices up in their heads... even if it is a flat price. For instance, a person seeing $29.99, will immediately think "30 bucks", but if it's priced $29 flat, they may still round it up and think "30 bucks". On the other hand, said rounding up is a useful way to calculate whether you're still in your budget; rounding 29.50 down to "29 bucks" and being 50 cents over is a Very Bad Thing indeed. An oddball one is the Brands-Mart chain located mostly in Florida, where all of the prices end in 88 cents and have 88 in the price as well. When the tax is added, these prices usually come out even. Sometimes prices ending in 88 cents or a similar less than 90 number are used by the store to indicate that an item is discounted; this is common with electronics and games. Some Goodwill thrift shops price things using a cents figure that is a repetition of the dollars figure; for instance, $13.13. This prevents customers from altering the prices by erasing the numbers—it would be blatantly obvious if someone tried changing that to $3.13. The gimmick also lends itself well to advertising trickery, as someone can claim their item is available for "under $30!" Well, yes, technically speaking, $29.99 is less than $30... Prices ending with .99 still appear in Australia, Canada and the Netherlands even though the lowest coin used is 5c: prices are rounded to the nearest 5 cents when paying in cash.note Prices ending in 8, 9, 1 and 2 round to 0; prices ending in 3, 4, 6 and 7 round to 5. However, if paying via EFTPOS or credit card, the amount is not rounded. This thinking is often carried over to large-ticket items, like cars, at least in the US — nobody cares about a few cents when they're spending five digits worth of dollars, but the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) in dollars will end in 7 or 5 far more often than it will end in 0.
...And 99¢	fetched	2023-05-24T17:59:05Z
...And 99¢	parsed	2023-05-24T17:59:05Z
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to FourIsDeath: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to RidiculousExchangeRates: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to ShortCircuit2: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to TeensAreMonsters: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to TheScrooge: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to VideoGames: Not an Item - CAT
...And 99¢	processingComment	Dropped link to runninggag: Not an Item - FEATURE
...And 99¢	processingUnknown	Short Circuit 2
...And 99¢	isPartOf	DBTropes
...And 99¢ / int_14600393	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_14600393	comment	Matilda had Harry Wormwood (the father) advising his son to "Never sell a car for a round number. Always go under by 50 pence. It may not look like much, but it makes the prices look a lot cheaper." It's sadly the most honest sales tactic he has. His other strategies basically involve using cheap methods to make piece of crap cars seem functional long enough for customers to leave the dealership with them.
...And 99¢ / int_14600393	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_14600393	featureConfidence	1.0
Matilda	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_14600393
...And 99¢ / int_17dcb96c	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_17dcb96c	comment	Look Around You shows a machine with a price tag of £999.99½p.
...And 99¢ / int_17dcb96c	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_17dcb96c	featureConfidence	1.0
Look Around You	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_17dcb96c
...And 99¢ / int_261c8d3f	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_261c8d3f	comment	The Simpsons: One episode featured Ned Flanders on the run from some punk teenagers. He calls for help from a gas station, but doesn't know the station's name. The only clue he can give in helping someone find him is that the price of gas is $1.49 and eight tenths of a cent. Hilarious in Hindsight now, considering the price of gas is now anywhere between $3.50 and $4.00. Dr. Nick Riviera will do any surgery for $129.95. (And he gives away a free Chinese finger puzzle to brain surgery patients.) Whether he can do it right or not, well, that's another story.
...And 99¢ / int_261c8d3f	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_261c8d3f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Simpsons	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_261c8d3f
...And 99¢ / int_2bbcacd9	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_2bbcacd9	comment	The Looney Tunes cartoon "The Ducksters" had Daffy Duck as the host of a radio quiz game with Porky Pig as the woebegone contestant. After much verbal and physical humiliation, Porky is awarded the show's prize—$26,000,000.03. He decides to buy the station and exact revenge on Daffy, he was initially surprised it cost him that exact amount.
...And 99¢ / int_2bbcacd9	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_2bbcacd9	featureConfidence	1.0
Looney Tunes	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_2bbcacd9
...And 99¢ / int_2fee4ed	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_2fee4ed	comment	The Meaning of Liff mentions this by inversion, coining the word "Kibblesworth" to refer to the amount by which a price is under the round number - for instance, "£5 kibblesworth a penny".
...And 99¢ / int_2fee4ed	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_2fee4ed	featureConfidence	1.0
The Meaning of Liff	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_2fee4ed
...And 99¢ / int_33fdae4d	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_33fdae4d	comment	In an early episode of Mad Men, Roger gives this to Pete as an example of the kind of thing he should think of as a huge, great advertising idea, as opposed to trying to be witty and subvert expectations.
...And 99¢ / int_33fdae4d	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_33fdae4d	featureConfidence	1.0
Mad Men	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_33fdae4d
...And 99¢ / int_4617a9f2	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_4617a9f2	comment	Married... with Children satirized this when Steve, a bank manager, told Al about his idea about a 99 cent coin to make purchases easier. Of course Al mentions the sales tax which is added to the price, making the coin no better than a dollar bill. Since most countries have the sales tax already in the listed price, he might have considered going abroad.
...And 99¢ / int_4617a9f2	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_4617a9f2	featureConfidence	1.0
Married... with Children	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_4617a9f2
...And 99¢ / int_5a0093	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_5a0093	comment	As where the current version of The Price Is Right has rounded off their prices to the nearest dollar since 1972 (except for grocery items used in pricing games and the money for the game Pocket Change), the original Bill Cullen Price included cents in their retail prices. The contestants' bids did not reflect this unless the item up for bids—a light bulb, a pair of kids' roller skates, et. al.— required it (such an item would lead to a big bonus for the winner).
...And 99¢ / int_5a0093	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_5a0093	featureConfidence	1.0
The Price Is Right	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_5a0093
...And 99¢ / int_5ae0bec6	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_5ae0bec6	comment	The WWE Network's subscription fee is $9.99 per month.
...And 99¢ / int_5ae0bec6	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_5ae0bec6	featureConfidence	1.0
WWE (Wrestling)	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_5ae0bec6
...And 99¢ / int_671d5c19	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_671d5c19	comment	The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Collect Her", Lenny pays $17.99 for one of the items he bought for his collection.
...And 99¢ / int_671d5c19	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_671d5c19	featureConfidence	1.0
The Powerpuff Girls (1998)	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_671d5c19
...And 99¢ / int_755d1424	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_755d1424	comment	The LEGO catalog was an aversion for a while, with the prices of the more expensive sets always being an even number of dollars, often with repeating digits like "$22.00" or "88.00". After they changed their policy to always include the price of shipping, nearly everything ended in 99 cents.
...And 99¢ / int_755d1424	featureApplicability	-1.0
...And 99¢ / int_755d1424	featureConfidence	1.0
LEGO (Franchise)	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_755d1424
...And 99¢ / int_7899c84f	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_7899c84f	comment	Adrian Mole: In a long school uniform shopping list in Secret Diary, almost every single item has a price ending in 99p. In Wilderness Years, Adrian asks for a two-week holiday in Europe costing no more than £300; he is sold one for £299.99.
...And 99¢ / int_7899c84f	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_7899c84f	featureConfidence	1.0
Adrian Mole	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_7899c84f
...And 99¢ / int_7de22ab8	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_7de22ab8	comment	In Clerks, Dante remarks that all prices end in 0.99. And yet in the background, all the prices end with the number five.
...And 99¢ / int_7de22ab8	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_7de22ab8	featureConfidence	1.0
Clerks	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_7de22ab8
...And 99¢ / int_7ff3216c	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_7ff3216c	comment	A non-financial example appears in Garfield and Friends, where Wade, after ripping the a tag off the bottom of a couch and learning that it's against the law, imagines himself being sentenced to "9,999 years in prison". Wade is relieved: "At least I didn't get life."
...And 99¢ / int_7ff3216c	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_7ff3216c	featureConfidence	1.0
Garfield and Friends	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_7ff3216c
...And 99¢ / int_809a3193	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_809a3193	comment	A Different World: After becoming tipsy on cheap wine while celebrating her 21st birthday, Whitley states that she would never again buy a wine whose price ended in this trope.
...And 99¢ / int_809a3193	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_809a3193	featureConfidence	1.0
A Different World	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_809a3193
...And 99¢ / int_8d4118c1	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_8d4118c1	comment	Batman '66: In "The Conqueror Bookworm", Bruce Wayne donates $ 4,999.99 to a charity.
...And 99¢ / int_8d4118c1	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_8d4118c1	featureConfidence	1.0
Batman '66 (Comic Book)	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_8d4118c1
...And 99¢ / int_9004922f	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_9004922f	comment	In Hogfather, the actual contents of the Hogfather's sack - once you get past the teddy bear and wooden soldier that are always sticking out of the top, but that no child ever wants or gets - are "something a bit garish and costing $5.99".
...And 99¢ / int_9004922f	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_9004922f	featureConfidence	1.0
Hogfather	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_9004922f
...And 99¢ / int_909ca4b1	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_909ca4b1	comment	ReBoot once had Mike pitch a Bucket of Nothing, among other things, as being "Free! for only ninety-nine ninety-nine ninety-nine!" "Amuse your friends! Confuse your enemies! Annoy total strangers!" "It's absolutely nothing!" bucket not included More generally "NINETY-NINE NINETY-NINE NINETY-NINE!!!''" is Mike's catchphrase during his first few episodes. On his first appearance he utters it twice in a minute.
...And 99¢ / int_909ca4b1	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_909ca4b1	featureConfidence	1.0
ReBoot	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_909ca4b1
...And 99¢ / int_9994a14f	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_9994a14f	comment	Taken to its logical extreme in WALL•E: a brief shot shows the titular character treading over some discarded 99-dollar bills bearing the BnL logo. It can be assumed that Buy n Large must have started printing them after taking over the government, so they could keep fulfilling this trope while eliminating the need to give change back.
...And 99¢ / int_9994a14f	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_9994a14f	featureConfidence	1.0
WALLâ€¢E	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_9994a14f
...And 99¢ / int_9aac12df	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_9aac12df	comment	U.S. Acres: Roy tricked some of his friends into falling into a waller. When the mud dried rendering them immobile, he tried to sell them as "lawn ornaments" and charged $4.99 for each.
...And 99¢ / int_9aac12df	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_9aac12df	featureConfidence	1.0
U.S. Acres (Comic Strip)	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_9aac12df
...And 99¢ / int_a183d57f	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_a183d57f	comment	In the Futurama episode 'Leela's Homeworld', Hermes tells the Professor that disposing of his toxic waste will cost him 500 dollars (he would also overlook it for a bribe... of 500 dollars). Bender counters the offer by saying he'll take care of it for 499 dollars and 100 cents, to which the Professor agrees because of the convenience. To be fair to the Prof, he did identify that it was the same number.
...And 99¢ / int_a183d57f	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_a183d57f	featureConfidence	1.0
Futurama	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_a183d57f
...And 99¢ / int_ac1c3727	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_ac1c3727	comment	Johnny Dangerously first got involved in the mob in order to raise $29.95 to pay for a medical procedure his mother needed (Yes, it sounds silly, but that genuinely was a lot of money for a lower class family at the turn of the 20th Century).
...And 99¢ / int_ac1c3727	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_ac1c3727	featureConfidence	1.0
Johnny Dangerously	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_ac1c3727
...And 99¢ / int_b0fc9724	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_b0fc9724	comment	The Saturday Night Live sketch "39 Cents" features a charity commercial where a man asks for the titular "39 cents a day" to help poor African villagers. This leads two of the villagers in the background to debate the low amount, invoking this trope in the process.
...And 99¢ / int_b0fc9724	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_b0fc9724	featureConfidence	1.0
Saturday Night Live	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_b0fc9724
...And 99¢ / int_b24f49ab	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_b24f49ab	comment	Back to the Future Part II featured automobile hover-conversions, "only thirty-nine, nine ninety-nine, ninety-five!" ($39,999.95)
...And 99¢ / int_b24f49ab	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_b24f49ab	featureConfidence	1.0
Back to the Future Part II	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_b24f49ab
...And 99¢ / int_c4a22754	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_c4a22754	comment	Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series has Kaiba inform Joey that "That costs you five hundred and ninety-nine U.S. Life Points".
...And 99¢ / int_c4a22754	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_c4a22754	featureConfidence	1.0
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series (Web Video)	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_c4a22754
...And 99¢ / int_d3029198	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_d3029198	comment	An episode of Antiques Roadshow featured an old Sindy doll from the 1960s. The original price was so-many shillings and 11 pence. There was 12 old pence in a shilling, making this the pre-decimal version of the trope. Further to this, there were twenty shillings in a pound, so something costing more than £1 would typically be priced at x pounds 19/11d - i.e. one (old) penny below the round number.
...And 99¢ / int_d3029198	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_d3029198	featureConfidence	1.0
Antiques Roadshow	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_d3029198
...And 99¢ / int_e25322af	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_e25322af	comment	A Strong Bad Email had a price of $249.99.99.99. Yes, that's two forty-nine ninety-nine ninety-nine ninety-nine.
...And 99¢ / int_e25322af	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_e25322af	featureConfidence	1.0
Homestar Runner (Web Animation)	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_e25322af
...And 99¢ / int_e5226bfe	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_e5226bfe	comment	Cookie Clicker The flavored cookies have prices that are strings of nines — 99,999,999 for the least expensive varieties and increasing to 99,999,999,999,999 for British Tea Biscuits and 199,999,999,999,999 for French cookies. The ones that can only be unlocked via heavenly chips are priced at 999,999,999,999,999. The Gingerbread Men and Gingerbread Trees flavored cookies avert this, being priced at an even 10 quadrillion cookies each. The base price of the Antimatter Condenser is 3,999,999,999 cookies.
...And 99¢ / int_e5226bfe	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_e5226bfe	featureConfidence	1.0
Cookie Clicker (Video Game)	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_e5226bfe
...And 99¢ / int_e936047a	type	...And 99¢
...And 99¢ / int_e936047a	comment	Hey Arnold!: A high-end electric piano is on sale for $499.95, and the grand prize in the talent show is $500. Gerald points out "If you win, you could buy near gear and still have money left over!"
...And 99¢ / int_e936047a	featureApplicability	1.0
...And 99¢ / int_e936047a	featureConfidence	1.0
Hey Arnold!	hasFeature	...And 99¢ / int_e936047a

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

...And 99¢	processingCategory2	Advertising Tropes
...And 99¢	processingCategory2	Money Tropes
...And 99¢	processingCategory2	Number Tropes
Batman '66 (Comic Book) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
U.S. Acres (Comic Strip) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Back to the Future Part II / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Clerks / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Johnny Dangerously / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Adrian Mole / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Matilda / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Deboss	seeAlso	...And 99¢
The Basement Tapes (Music) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Ultimate Crossover Roleplay (Roleplay) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
A Different World / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
The Peter Serafinowicz Show / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Treasure Hunt US / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Cookie Clicker (Video Game) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Girls' Frontline (Video Game) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Night of the Consumers (Video Game) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
The Town with No Name (Video Game) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
You Don't Know Jack (Video Game) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Game Theory (Web Video) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Sethical (Web Video) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
This Is Why Im Broke (Website) / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
Growing Up Creepie / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢
ReBoot / int_8f663510	type	...And 99¢

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