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    The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

    (www.cnn.com)
    460 points andrewl | 15 comments | 12 Nov 25 16:10 UTC | HN request time: 0.887s | source | bottom
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    Night_Thastus ◴[12 Nov 25 18:13 UTC] No.45903609[source]▶
    I'd say screw it, get rid of nickles and dimes as well. Quarters can stay, for now.

    It's a complete waste of money and time continuing to mint such low-value currency. It can't be used for just about anything.

    Unfortunately, I do see the problem with part of this. For a handful of items where it does matter, it will force people to use cards more if they want to avoid rounding. And the card providers already have a choke-hold on retailers, and the whole thing is basically a scheme that funnels money from the poor to the wealthy via interest and fees on the consumer, interchange fees, and rewards programs.

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    bbarnett ◴[12 Nov 25 18:51 UTC] No.45904256[source]▶
    I know you're referencing more than pennies, but to speak to pennies, I find the current rounding noise in the US to be weird. Likely, it's just more of the media, talking heads, and youtube personalities trying to turn a nothing into something, story.

    Back when we did it in Canada, I don't recall a single person I knew concerned about penny rounding. Everyone was sick of pennies. No one cared. Everyone was happy. And the math seems fair enough:

    https://www.budget.canada.ca/2012/themes/theme2-info-eng.htm...

    Basically, if something is $1.01 or $1.02, you round down. If it's $1.03 or $1.04, you round up. Rounding is to be applied after all taxes are paid, etc.

    Of course, there was also central guidance and, well, everyone just followed it. It's called "having a society".

    People blathering on about stores fixing the rounding are morons, there's no way to do so if you buy more than one item. No one gets ripped off with the above method. In the end, it just works out.

    And really, who cares?! It's a penny.

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    simpleguitar ◴[12 Nov 25 19:00 UTC] No.45904436[source]▶
    As the article points out, there are laws that say people who pay via SNAP debit cards "cannot be charged more than others".

    If cash payments are rounded down, but debit card payments aren't, they are in violation of state law.

    The article also points out that rollback of pennies in Canada and other places were planned, addressing these kinds of issues. USA is doing it with no such planning.

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    1. dyslexit ◴[12 Nov 25 19:52 UTC] No.45905444[source]▶
    The article also points out that some states and a lot cities require retailers to provide exact change. Congress would need to pass legislation to allow rounding nationally. I'm guessing in the meantime they'll continue holding pennies from previous years?
    replies(4): >>45905609 #>>45906543 #>>45906609 #>>45908184 #
    2. unethical_ban ◴[12 Nov 25 20:02 UTC] No.45905609[source]▶
    If the national government literally stops creating a certain precision of money, i expect the "exact change" requirement should be invalid.
    replies(1): >>45905879 #
    3. thatguy0900 ◴[12 Nov 25 20:17 UTC] No.45905879[source]▶
    You volunteering your business to be the the test legal case for that? Or are you stocking pennies?
    replies(1): >>45906002 #
    4. bdangubic ◴[12 Nov 25 20:24 UTC] No.45906002{3}[source]▶
    “change will be provided via Venmo” sign at the entrance :)
    replies(1): >>45906205 #
    5. ◴[12 Nov 25 20:34 UTC] No.45906205{4}[source]▶
    6. patrickthebold ◴[12 Nov 25 20:56 UTC] No.45906543[source]▶
    Is gas sold as a whole penny amounts in those locations? Where I am it's always something and 9/10ths of a cent.
    replies(2): >>45906652 #>>45906748 #
    7. gus_massa ◴[12 Nov 25 21:01 UTC] No.45906609[source]▶
    Here in Argentina the law says they must be rounded down. Initially it was for 5 AR$cents, and some shops still has the oficial sign that says AR$ 0.05.

    We unofficially drop the coins/bills when the reach ~US$0.03, so now we dropped the AR$50 bills and everythig in cash is rounded down to AR$100 (US$0.07).

    (The only exception is the photocopy shop 2 blocks away from home.)

    Credit cards are charged the exact ammount, with cents that are irrelevant.

    8. ryandrake ◴[12 Nov 25 21:04 UTC] No.45906652[source]▶
    Allowing gas stations to denominate their prices by the 10th of a cent has always struck me as a just an underhanded and extreme way to practice the "9.99" retail psychological trick. Why not allow retailers to price things 9.99999? Ridiculous.
    replies(3): >>45906769 #>>45906771 #>>45908084 #
    9. Ferret7446 ◴[12 Nov 25 21:10 UTC] No.45906748[source]▶
    The amount is only rounded at the end of the transaction. Those fractions make a difference if you're buying more than a few gallons
    10. cwmma ◴[12 Nov 25 21:12 UTC] No.45906769{3}[source]▶
    It's because technically the dollar is divided into Dimes, Cents, and Mil. (this is why dimes say 'One Dime' on them instead of 'Ten Cents'.

    So while the mil isn't really used anywhere else that regular people see any more due to inflation, it is a valid division of the dollar and that's why they are able to get away with it.

    replies(2): >>45907838 #>>45908178 #
    11. patrickthebold ◴[12 Nov 25 21:12 UTC] No.45906771{3}[source]▶
    of course 9.99...(repeating) is mathematically 10, so I have a hard time being against allowing that.
    12. LadyCailin ◴[12 Nov 25 22:35 UTC] No.45907838{4}[source]▶
    So do whatever they do with mils but for the penny too. They don’t nor have they ever minted a mil coin, so the procedure for this is already well established if this is correct.
    13. AnimalMuppet ◴[12 Nov 25 22:57 UTC] No.45908084{3}[source]▶
    Turns out the station charges you a round number of cents per gallon. Then there are federal taxes, which are, IIRC, 24.5 cents per gallon. And then there's state tax, which varies from state to state but seems to always be x.4 cents per gallon.

    So I don't think it's just "evil retailer tricks".

    14. dimensional_dan ◴[12 Nov 25 23:06 UTC] No.45908178{4}[source]▶
    Has a Mil ever been minted?
    15. Telemakhos ◴[12 Nov 25 23:07 UTC] No.45908184[source]▶
    So, implement sales tax like Europe does VAT and include it in on the shelf price, and make sure all shelf prices end in 0 or 5. Then, adding up items in a cart will also end in 0 or 5, and the tax is already included, so there is no math beyond the addition that could change the total to anything ending in something that is not 0 or 5. No matter how people pay, cash or card, the price will be the same, and it will always end in 0 or 5. As an added bonus, customers don't have to wonder how much tax they'll pay, because that's already included in the price.