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The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

(www.cnn.com)
334 points andrewl | 6 comments | 12 Nov 25 16:10 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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didgetmaster ◴[12 Nov 25 16:40 UTC] No.45902279[source]▶
Many are reporting this as if failing to mint new pennies each year is going to produce some kind of shortage. There are billions of pennies sitting in drawers or jars in homes across the nation (I certainly have one with about a thousand pennies in it).

I doubt anyone who needs a penny will be unable to find one within the next 100 years.

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JohnFen ◴[12 Nov 25 16:46 UTC] No.45902363[source]▶
Most of the stores in my area have started requiring people to pay with exact change or by card because they can't get pennies to make change.

Personally, I think stores should just start setting prices to avoid the need for pennies, but that would be too easy, I guess.

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1. knollimar ◴[12 Nov 25 16:54 UTC] No.45902484[source]▶
If your sales tax rate is 8.875%, what do you price a banana at to avoid change?
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2. randerson ◴[12 Nov 25 17:16 UTC] No.45902777[source]▶
This problem is easily solved in countries that use VAT
3. carlosjobim ◴[12 Nov 25 17:48 UTC] No.45903219[source]▶
You price it including sales tax. Sticker price is final price.
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4. micromacrofoot ◴[12 Nov 25 18:10 UTC] No.45903555[source]▶
$10
5. rufus_foreman ◴[12 Nov 25 19:24 UTC] No.45904926[source]▶
If someone is buying a banana for resale, or buying with WIC or SNAP benefits (among other things), they would not owe sales tax. So if the price included sales tax, the sticker price would not be the final price.

You do not know the final price until you know how they are paying for it, what they are using it for, and when they are buying it (among other things).

Falsehoods programmers believe about sales tax (among other things).

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6. carlosjobim ◴[12 Nov 25 19:48 UTC] No.45905371{3}[source]▶
Then that discount can be deducted by the cash register when it's time to pay.