The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

Post by Ferret7446 » Wed, Nov 12, 2025, 9:08 PM UTC

simpleguitar wrote: post #273

b112 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. An…

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.

Post by retrocog » Wed, Nov 12, 2025, 9:08 PM UTC

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #523

barbazoo wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a bit, a penny?

1/8, so 2 bits is a quarter. it comes from old spanish coins that they would cut into eight pieces, or bits. I learned that after watching one of the pirates of the Caribbean movies and googling pieces of eight.

Post by tengbretson » Wed, Nov 12, 2025, 9:09 PM UTC

patch_collector wrote: post #14

MrHeather wrote: post #6

>But with 20 million customers a year, and 17% of them paying with cash, the policy will eventually cost Kwik Trip a couple of million dollars a year, McHugh said. If we figure two-fifths of cash transactions need to be rounded up and the store is losing an average of 1.5 cents each time, their expected losses would be around $2,000, yeah?

20m customers * 17% * 4 cents * 'x' transactions per customer = $136,000 * x I suppose this makes some sense. In a worst case situation, if every customer makes 10-20 transactions per year, and they always round down the maximum possible amount, they would lose millions per year.

Post by pge » Wed, Nov 12, 2025, 9:10 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #524

b112 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. An…

I think people underestimate how many stores used to set prices to avoid pennies. When I was a kid it was frequent. Goose the price so cost + tax rounded to the nearest nickel. But now everything is 23.99 or sometimes 23.95, and they use the pennies place to denote clearance items. Like 19.94 or 3.98.

Post by cwmma » Wed, Nov 12, 2025, 9:12 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #526

patrickthebold wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is gas sold as a whole penny amounts in those locations? Where I am it's always something and 9/10ths of a cent.

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.