Should we eliminate the penny?

[rwanger]

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Bear with me as I am not a financial wizard, but if they eliminate the penny, wouldn't they have to make sales tax 10cents on the dollar??? Lord knows they won't LOWER it to 5cents on the dollar. I vote keep it if this is the case.

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No, they can still price things with pennies and fractions of a penny, it's just that the final cost is rounded. For example, in Australia, they don't have pennies. Yet the library charged 11 cents per copy. Go figure.

Also, I'm sure the gas stations would present to big of a special interest group to get around in terms of eliminating charging people fractions of a penny.

[TheWorstPlayer]

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TWP- So they would essentially round to the nearest nickel? I.e., if something were $19.95 (because we don't have pennies) and the 6% sales tax should make it $21.18, they would round it to 21.20 or 21.15. Is this correct?

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Well there are several ways to implement it. Obviously you can just round where appropriate (a lot of places let you get away with this now, btw). Or they could just charge 19.97 so the final price is 21.20.

[prohornblower]

[ QUOTE ]
TWP- So they would essentially round to the nearest nickel? I.e., if something were $19.95 (because we don't have pennies) and the 6% sales tax should make it $21.18, they would round it to 21.20 or 21.15. Is this correct?

[/ QUOTE ]

The item wouldn't be $19.95. They'd (retailers) have to work backwards.

As long as they knew there would be sales tax, they'd mark it at $19.93 or $19.97 or whatever would come out to a multiple of 5 after tax.

If no sales tax, all items are priced multiples of 5.

[rwanger]

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Yes. You should eliminate the penny. You have your assignment, get to work.

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A prop bet might help motivate me...

Also, I'd need some creative names for my orginzation, keeping in mind that Citizens for Retiring the Penny is already taken

[guids]

Guys, Ill happily take all the pennies you have off your hands, just mail them to me.

[mattw]

i will try to cliff note the TLDR thread regarding pennies. disclaimer, im tired so im may not be correct.

some countries, australia, and some euro's have done away with the penny. electronic transactions still use the penny but physical transactions truncate or round up or down.

i cant see how this would be good for the consurmer. some scheme will evolve that [censored] the customer.

if you dont like pennies, leave them at the register, give them to the homeless, etc. if you do like them, save them or carry a few in your poket to cause 5c transactions at the till.

[sushijerk]

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Guys, Ill happily take all the pennies you have off your hands, just mail them to me.

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Just pay the shipping and it's done.

[rwanger]

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give them to the homeless, etc.

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This was covered in the other thread. Apparently, you get spit on.

[Jackie Onassis]

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Guys, Ill happily take all the pennies you have off your hands, just mail them to me.

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Just pay the shipping and it's done.

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Nice.

[econophile]

so people here actually use currency < $100?