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By Lydia Patrick
Life & Trends Reporter
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A Reddit shopper has unintentionally amused thousands after sharing a photo of a hoodie they found in the sale section—only to discover the discount was barely a dollar.
The user, who goes by u/gyrororonoa, posted the image to Reddit’s r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit after picking up a “rhinestone hoodie” from Zumiez, a U.S. skate and streetwear retailer known for selling brands like Thrasher, Primitive, Santa Cruz, Obey, and a mix of skate‑influenced apparel and accessories.
The hoodie’s original price was $104.95, but the sale sticker showed it had been “discounted” to $103.99. That meant the total savings came to just 96 cents, equating to a markdown of 0.915 percent—or not even one percent off.
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“This item is on sale for .915 percent off,” the Redditor wrote alongside the photo. The post quickly gained traction as users tried to make sense of the minuscule discount.
Why Would a Store Mark Something Down by Pennies?
While the near‑nonexistent savings sparked plenty of amusement, retail workers in the thread explained there’s often a very practical reason behind markdowns like these.
“I worked for a couple different retailers who would mark their clearance like this, with a minimal markdown (usually within a dollar or two),” one commenter wrote. “But what it would do is trigger it to be part of the clearance sale—usually 50 percent off but up to 70 percent depending on the promos. We never sold clearance at the ticketed price.”
In other words, the tiny discount isn’t intended to be the real selling price—it simply pushes the item into a clearance category within the store’s POS system. Once there, it gets swept into broader promotional sales.
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Another user added that when retail inventory sits for years, the “true” discount can be bigger than what the sticker shows—even when the immediate markdown looks small.
“The discount could be bigger,” the commenter said. “If the item has been in the store for 5+ years, then realistically speaking you’re getting more like a 20 percent off the original price due to the rising costs and inflation.”
Even so, the photo of the nearly full‑price “sale” hoodie struck a nerve with shoppers who know the feeling of finding a bargain—only to realize it’s anything but.
Newsweek reached out to u/gyrororonoa for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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