From some nerdy web site (http://www.news.wisc.edu/14723 if you must know):
In 1582, Pope Gregory instituted a calendar reform (which is why we use the “Gregorian Calendar”): We add a leap day every four years, except in years divisible by 100 (like 1900), but those can also be leap years if they are divisible by 400.
“So we would have skipped a leap day in 2000,” says Lattis, “but it’s also divisible by 400, and that’s the exception to the exception.”
So, how many leap days have YOU had? You could have a fun event in your consignment, resale, or thrift shop, for one day only: Take 2.9% off for every Leap Day you’ve lived. (That’s to honor Feb 29, of course!)
I’ve had 16!! So, because I am one of those OLD customers so many of you shudder to think about, I’d get 46.4% off. That snippy little self-important 23-year-old only gets 17.4% (Revenge of the Sagging Cells, I like to think of it as!)
Making the purely-arbitrary decision that none of your customers are over 80 (or, if they are, that they have grown beyond worrying about discounts on your already-terrific prices), here’s the list of years your customers might have lived through a Leap Day on:
Like this idea? Make up a chart of birth year = discount. Don’t insist on seeing valid ID to PROVE that your customer, who’s having a great deal of fun (after all, it ain’t often that the older you are, the better off you are, right?) is as old as she admits to. And Great-Grannie, who claims to be 86-and-a-half and wants to claim that discount? What the heck, break the bank, give her 100% off something. It’ll be worth it, to see the smile on that wrinkly old face, huh? Just be sure to capture a photo on your digital camera of her, and post it on your Community Bulletin Board for all to enjoy!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Now, see what assumptions will do? I wrote this in response to Sharers who were ready to give away THEIR stores with a 29% discount on everything in the store (which, if they were following my guidelines, would be 99% new season items, since winter clearance should be GONE by now). I wanted to come up with something that wouldn’t involve them giving away MORE than their profit margin!
If we count up Leap Days, it turns out that every customer under 35 would receive LESS than 29% off.
And nowhere did I suggest that any discount should be given for every item in the shop! I was thinking more along the lines of “off any one item of your choice.”
As you know (and what prompted you to post in the first place!) I have a REALLY hard time with discounting any more than the consignment-agreement stated term reductions…except twice a year for end-of-season clearance. All that a shopkeeper accomplishes by reducing prices is yelling from the mountaintop “My prices are TOO HIGH!”…. not the message a savvy shopkeeper wishes to burn into consumers’ minds!
As always: ADD VALUE, don’t reduce price! ALWAYS opt for a “free gift with purchase” before a discount.
I WISH someone would hijack my blog. And answer my email and scrub the bathroom while she’s at it. Any takers?
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Yup CarolGrace, my guess is that Margaritas have been consumed…I only wish that I was treating to the first round.
If I end up at the NARTS conference ,that is # 1 on my to-do list. Cheers Kate!
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I’m thinking…hmmm….something does not smell right here. The Kate I know would never advocate giving away the store. Unless… hmmm…maybe she had a drink or two (or 8)? I mean, the old girl has been known to tip back a few from time to time…but the whole freakin’ bottle? Nah! I don’t think so.
Okay…so think…CG…think….
I know! It’s a joke! No, wait. This is a LEAP year sale – not an April Fool thingy.
Okay, fine, if Kate’s not drunk and she’s not joking, the answer is simple: this is not Kate writing. Someone has hi-jacked her blog. Okay, you – whoever you are, don’t think Kate won’t find you out! Man, I’d hate to be you when she sees this. Ooh…you are in big trouble….
How the heck did you get into her blog, anyway?
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