click on pictorial to enlargeThanks to a fellow blogger for sending me the following riddle last fall that I saved & adapted into the following Christmas store quiz.
Please provide your logic if you decide to answer the quiz.
I will post all correct answers or alternatively will send the solution privately to anyone who requests it if no one figures it out.
Rockefeller Center Christmas Store Quiz
A man steals a $100 bill from a store in the above pictorial. He then returns to the store, unrecognized, & buys $70 worth of goods using the stolen $100 bill, & gets $30 change. How much money did the store lose?
References:
1) Frederic Bastiat – That Which Is Seen, & That Which Is Not Seen – Chapter 1
2) Henry Hazlitt – Economics In One Lesson – Chapter 1 entitled The Broken Window
PS - The best Christmas present I can give this readership is to suggest studying the above two references which provide the foundation for not only understanding the above riddle but also most other economic issues people encounter in life.
I think the store lost $200.00.......the original $100.00, the $70.00 in merchandise, and the $30.00 adds up to $200.00.
ReplyDeleteHow are you guys doing? Hope you have a beautiful Christmas!
Please try again with a $100 bill (or paper that says $100) in your hand. What if the thief bought something somewhere else & that person brought the original $100 bill to the store & bought $70 worth of goods? Would the loss still be $200?
DeleteSeems too easy: $130 dollars.
ReplyDeleteHave to say store lost $200. The first $100 stolen bought $70 and $30 change adds up to $200.
DeleteYou are going the wrong way. What if the person who stole the money took the $100 bill & bought something else @ another store & than the store owner of that store brought the exact same $100 bill to the original store & bought $70 worth of goods & received $30 in change. Would you still think this transaction was part of the loss? Work again using this hint & I think you will have it.
DeleteThe question does not say he went to another store, he went back to the same store unrecognized. Under this scenario the store would only loose $30.
DeleteI used the other store as an example & hint for further thinking – you are right, it was not part of the original question. Are you saying that every time someone comes in with a $100 bill, buys something for $70, & gets $30 change that the store is losing $30 because of the first $100 bill that was stolen? Think of that as an isolated incident & that business goes on from there.
DeleteNo, makes no difference with any other $100 from any where just the original $100. Additional $100’s store does not loose anything, if nothing else applies the original store and $100 the store only looses $100. If I purchase an item from a store return it with a restocking fee how much does the store lose?
DeleteYes, the answer is $100. Money is fungible so a $100 could be brought in from anywhere after the crime & it would not affect the original crime of stealing $100. The SC Businessman was the first, & so far only one, to get it right. He responded: $100. It’s the same as stealing the $70 item and $30 cash. Which is what happens when he brings the stolen $100 back.
DeleteIf that logic is sound, why stop anyone from stealing? It’s like saying someone stole your pension one week but another was sent the next week, who lost the money you or the IRS?
DeleteAnd why increase prices knowing things will be stolen. I will stick with my second answer that store lost 200 dollars from the first $100. Makes no difference sticking with the first scenario if someone else brings a different $100.
$100. It’s the same as stealing the $70 item and $30 cash. Which is what happens when he brings the stolen $100 back. Maybe there is more to it and my pumpkin head can’t get it.
ReplyDeleteFirst to get it right.
DeleteI doubt this is as easy as it seems but the answer is $100, of course. Less the profit on the $70.00 of the goods purchased.
ReplyDeleteThere are three possibilities for stealing the $100 bill.
ReplyDelete1. The man stole from the cash register which he would be caught as there are too many people around.
2. The man pick pocketed the bill and
3. The man found the bill and pocketed it, pretending to own it and leave the store to legitimize ownership.
Since #1 possibility is out of question, it did not cost anything to the store with either of the other possibilities.
In the quiz the man actually does steal a $100 from the store & returns & buys goods & gets change. Please work the riddle that way – no pickpockets or found money.
DeleteDoug, I have been procrastinating, but, no more.
DeleteIt is obvious that the store lost $100 as this amount was stolen by the man (a thief).
What is not so obvious, is the fact that the store keeper has lost the opportunity to spend the $100 as he wished, either on goods or services and this in turn would have created business for some other party and so on and so forth.
My answer is the store lost $100. Merchandise and change. Let us know if we are wrong. ....
ReplyDeleteI forwarded answers from Jon and Alison - they both said loss was $100.
DeleteChecked with my math guru and she said $170 because the $30 was from the original $100. (I checked with her b/c I thought it was $200 which I thought was too easy but she straightened me out!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a little more straightening out is needed.
DeleteIs $140 right?
DeleteTo solve the subject riddle please consider the following steps - just let me know if you have any questions:
ReplyDelete1. At the instant the thief steals $100 the store has lost $100.
2. At the instant that the thief returns to the store & hands over the $100 bill to buy the $70 worth of retail goods the store is even because the money has been returned. But in the next instant the store owner wraps the $70 worth of retail goods & hands the thief $30 change. So now the store is not out the original $100 but rather is out the $70 worth of retail goods plus $30 in change or again $100 on the surface.
3. Since the store can reasonably be considered as being a profitable organization (or it would have gone out of business) & the thief entered to do a commercial transaction with the stolen $100 bill the store lost $100 less the profit on the $70 of retail goods.
Alternate #1 – some people worked the problem saying the loss was equivalent to losing the $70 worth of retail goods plus $30 change or $100 total. But $70 is the retail price of the goods meaning that the store owner did not pay $70 for the goods – he bought the goods wholesale @ a cost less than the $70 retail price - so his loss would have been $100 less the profit on the retail goods.
Alternate #2 – had the thief not returned to the store the loss would have been $100 because there was no continuation of deception by the thief. Had someone else come in & bought the $70 worth of retail goods the loss would not have been affected by this legitimate transaction & the loss would have been the original $100 that was stolen.
Doug - I just got around to the Quiz Post from last week. I have no Algebra skills so I used math to come up with a $60.00 loss. Of course, I could be wrong. Let me know what the right answer is.
ReplyDeleteDoug,
ReplyDeleteAccounting-wis, the store only lost $ 30.00.
Here's how:
Assume that when the store opened that day, Cash had a Debit balance of $ 200 & the Equity had a Credit balance of $ 200.
When the person retuned for the purchase the following occured - Debit Cash $ 70 & Credit Sales $ 70.
At the end of the day the following entry occured - Debit - Lost Cash/ Merchandise Expense $ 100 & Credit Cash $ 100.
Since the Expenses of the day exceed the Revenue by $30, the balances in the Cash & Equity accounts are reduced to $ 170 each or a loss of $30.
However, if the person doing the stealing is the cashier or another store employee who came back in a changed appearance with a wig or wearing glasses, the security cameras may not detect the theft & thus the stealing may continue.
N.B. I went to the Brick Library for the books that you suggested and was told that neither was in the system but that I could request an "inter-library-loan" which may take up to 3 months to arrive. I suggested that it should take 3 days even if they were coming from Mars. It was suggested that I could purchase them on a kindle or nook.
I'm glad that I am not a high school senior or community college student who needed the books for a research paper in January and couldn't afford the amount necessary for the purchase.