“I still don’t have a costume for Purim,” Sruli Simcha said to his mother. “Can you take me to the store?”
“I’m busy making hamentashen,” Mrs. Simcha replied. She turned to her husband and asked: “Can you take him to the store to buy a costume?”
“OK,” replied Mr. Simcha. “Just tell me where to go.”
“There’s a store down Main that has good prices on costumes,” answered Mrs. Simcha. “I buy there every year.”
As Mr. Simcha headed out with Sruli, they met their neighbor Mr. Sasson. “We’re going to buy a costume,” Sruli announced.
“That’s nice,” said Mr. Sasson. “The truth is, we haven’t had a chance to buy a costume for our son. Would you mind picking up one for us also? ”
“I’m going anyway,” said Mr. Simcha. “I’m happy to buy one for you also. What kind of costume does your son want?”
“He’d like a king costume,” answered Mr. Sasson.
“I’ll see what they have,” said Mr. Simcha.
When Mr. Simcha got to the store, he saw a large sign in the window: “Buy 1; get 2nd item for 50%.”
“Oh great!” exclaimed Mr. Simcha. “Buying two will work out well, and will even save us some money.”
When Mr. Simcha came home, he showed his wife the costume. “That’s a nice one,” she said. “Good choice!”
“We even got it for half-price,” Mr. Simcha added. “We met Mr. Sasson on the way out and he asked me to buy a costume also for his son also. There was a ‘Buy 1, get 2nd half-price sale,’ so ours only cost half price.”
“I don’t think it’s fair that we should keep the whole discount,” said his wife. “The discount was for both purchases.”
What’s not fair?” said Mr. Simcha. “Mr. Sasson is paying the regular price that his costume cost. Anyway, I made the effort to go to the store.”
“But when you buy two items, each one costs less,” reasoned Mrs. Simcha. “How can you say that Mr. Sasson’s was full cost and ours half-price?!”
“I’ll check with Rabbi Dayan,” said Mr. Simcha. He called Rabbi Dayan and asked: “Can I take the discount for myself or should it be split?”
“The answer is not definitive,” answered Rabbi Dayan. “Contemporary poskim have provided different rulings.”
“The Gemara in Kesuvos 98b teaches that if a person sent an agent to buy something, and the seller added extra, the customer and the agent should share the bonus,” explained Rabbi Dayan. “However, if the seller gave a discount on the item and charged less, the customer gets the benefit, since that is the cost of the item; the agent cannot pocket the difference.” (C.M. 183:6; Pischei Choshen, Pikadon 11:29, 42)
“How does that apply here?” asked Mr. Simcha.
“We can understand the sale as giving a discount only on the second item,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “Thus, although the discount was given because of the first item that was charged full cost, you could keep the discount for yourself. Your neighbor cannot claim that you gained at his expense; he paid the regular price and lost nothing.”
“Alternatively,” continued Rabbi Dayan, “we can view the sale as saying that when buying two items together, they share a discount and each item costs only 75 percent. According to this understanding, the discount would have to be shared, since each item costs less.” (See Halichos Olam #232)
“Which approach is more correct?” asked Mr. Simcha.
“I prefer the first approach, for two reasons,” answered Rabbi Dayan. “First, it is the simple understanding and the items are billed at the register in this manner. Second, when the items are not of equal value, the discount is given as half of the lesser item, which indicates that the sale is not buy two and get 25 percent off each, but rather get 50 percent off the second or lesser item.”
“Bottom line, I say it depends on who is in possession of the money,” concluded Rabbi Dayan. “If the neighbor already gave you the money, you can keep the entire discount for yourself if you want to. However, if you laid out the money and he pays afterward, he can ask that you share the discount with him.”