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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

A big fortune from small change

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MUSCAT, Sept 25 - After making a purchase for RO 9.385, did you ask for the balance 15 baisas at the supermarket? If your answer is a ‘no’, then think again. It might seem like a paltry sum for you. But for the supermarkets, every baisa counts. ‘Little drops of water can make a mighty ocean’, according to a saying. Small change we let go could mean a huge amount for the outlet. The retail market collects thousands of rials from customers every year that is not subject to any financial regulation, audit or tax. Apparently they are not accountable for the amount, which means they needn’t show any proof of its existence.


If a leading hypermarket chain, whose footfalls is calculated at 80,000 a day, keeps an average of 10 baisas from 70,000 customers, it would be keeping aside RO 700 each day, gaining RO 21,000 “completely free” money each month.


“Retailers get hundreds of rials every day by way of ‘no change’ to the customer. We are helpless. We use these earnings to clear bad debts and other losses that keep happening in a supermarket,” said the manager of a leading retail outlet.


There are fewer than a dozen players categorised as A-class, about 25 B-class and umpteen number of C-class supermarkets, besides hypermarkets and shopping malls.


The ‘no-change’ issue exists everywhere, but customers are forced to let go a few baisas.


“Hundreds of rials are collected because of change problem. However, ‘salary through bank only’ policy must have made a lot of customers use their debit cards for shopping that will save them the trouble of looking for the exact change,” said Davis Kallookkaran, a chartered accountant and auditor with Crowe Horwath.


A ‘B’ class supermarket chain said a few hundred rials collected this way is used as a reserve against shoplifting incidents. “We incur huge losses through shoplifting. This money compensates for such losses.”


Shameem, a hardware salesman, had a suggestion. He feels retailers can mention the unpaid balance on the bill and compensate the customers when they visit the outlet next time.


KABEER YOUSUF


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