[widebody911]

I've noticed something interesting at some businesses with POS (point of sale) terminals. I've come across many instances where they work up a total on a small 10 key, but don't actually punch it into the register. At the cafeteria at my office, the guy who usually works the register will usually figure out your total in his head, then type the number into the cash register, make change by hand (the old fashioned way) and then press the 'clear' button and move on to the next guy. Long story short, nothing gets written to the tape. I've seen similar behavior at other small businesses.

My WAG is they do this to lowball their sales, and thus pay less in taxes.

Is my estimation correct, or am I just not thoroughly clued in? I worked in a few retail shops in high school, so I have some sort of idea how things are supposed to work.