Lewis's in Birmingham

[Edmund Fifield]

The thing is we were all taught mental arithmetic in our school days.Imagine the kids of today trying to add up in £sd   

[Snooks]

They would NEVER do it!

[Edmund Fifield]

Snooks what's 3/11+5/4d. 

[Edmund Fifield]

Scipio,when we moved from Vauxhall we moved to Kitts Green in a modern 2 bedroom terraced house with nice large kitchen that's when my mom & dad bought one of these kitchen units as they were called.I think we were called posh people at the time

[Edmund Fifield]

How about 9/3d

[Snooks]

9/3d is 9 shillings and 3 pence = 111d  ( 3/11 is 3 shillings and 11 pence = 47d & 5/4 = 64d)  .... 12 d in one shilling, 20 shillings in £1 and 240d in £1 .....

[JudithM]

Peg,Our Specsave still use this method in our store

Yes, I've seen it in a Specsavers too.

I also remember one of the shoe shops in Solihull had that system when I was young.

[JudithM]

I remember my Saturday jobs and we had to add up everything in our heads and work out the change as well not like today where the till does it all for you. 

True. I guess time is money.  By scanning the items and it automatically adding up lessens the time for each customer at the tills so they are paying the shop assistants for 'clearing' more customers than they used to.  I don't know whether it's still true, but ALDI used to penalise staff if they didn't get the customers through in a certain amount of time.  I guess the faster they can get people through the tills the fewer tills they have to open (and therefore pay staff to man) as the queues don't build up so much.

[Edmund Fifield]

You should have worked behind the bar of a pub in the 60s at times it was chaotic ,especially at opening times or at the Villa Supporters Club at about 2-30 on match days when they were trying to get a drink before the match.

[Snooks]

I bet! I have never worked behind a bar... but I had a number of student and Saturday jobs  in shops!! that was bad enough and if you didn't get your till right at the end of the day - you stayed there until you did!

[Edmund Fifield]

Snooks,didn't it learn you to add,take away and multiply on those old tills,you had to think before you pushed the keys down having totalled in you head first.Good times.Theyed need a calculator  today first and still probably get it wrong.Saying that my G/son got an award today for achievement over the year at a special award day today he's 13,so can't be to bad.