Discounts

Discounts(打折, dǎzhé) are computed differently in Taiwan than in the US. Where as in the US, they tell you how much they are taking off the original price( 10% off, 50% off ... ), in Taiwan discounted merchandise is marked by what fraction the original price(9/10th,  half priced ... ) is the sale price. Also in Taiwan, discounts are in tenths rather than in hundredths(.i.e percent). I doubt that anyone looking for a bargain will see a difference from 8/10 of the original price and 15%, 16%, 17%, 18%, 19%, 20%, 21%,  22%, 23% or 24% off the original price.

You don't need to know much Chinese to see that this store is selling at a 8/10s of the posted price(or 20% off). But if a store is giving a discount, then business must be bad(or else why give a discount?). If business is bad, what is the reason?

But you still have to be care and read the fine print. Like this add says the sale price is 6/10 of the orginal, but that's only on the second piece of bread.

Here is a quick quiz, which of these stores is offering the better deal:

Buy one, get one free:

  Half of the original price:

But there are somethings discounted that make sense. How valuable is day-old fresh bread and pastries? This bakery sells all items at 8/10 of the original price after 8PM.

The top 3 convenience stores in Taiwan and in the order of their business they are:

7/11              (called just "7" )
Family Mart
HiLife

The all sell the English language Taiwan newspapers for 15NT each. But HiLife sells them for 13NT after 8PM because what value is there in yesterday's newspaper?