I agree. Even worse is the money hammock- coins on top of bills, handed to the customer by the cashier with two hands! The coins should be placed in my palm first with the bills and receipt on top!
Now, on to the cent coin- I like the so-called penny. I remember when I could get two of the Ford Foundation gum squares for one cent. I do understand why some say to delete it. Then there are those who say all the prices will have to be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel. This is untrue. No prices need to change in any store if the penny goes away! Leave all the prices alone, and just round the entire sale (groceries, e.g.) after everything’s run up. Electronic sales can still use the cent.
This is exactly what happened in Canada. We round to the nearest 5c on cash transactions… but with the rise of credit cards and debit cards, and then EMV contactless transactions (“The Tap”), there are fewer and fewer cash transactions anyways. It’s been ten years since Canada stopped making 1c coins for circulation, and we don’t even miss them. We don’t think about them at all.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an individual price in a brick-and-mortar store that didn’t end in 9, on the (rather foolish) belief that people will think “$9.99! Wow! I can’t believe it’s under $10!” or something.
Those prices would all go up to 0, so $9.99 becomes $10—which is basically is, anyway. Assume this applies to everything. So yes, prices would go up, but not by a significant amount.
When we ditched the penny, people feared massive price increases. This year, we’re experiencing noticeable inflation, and realize that those feared increases either didn’t happen or got lost in the noise. And gas prices still end in 9/10 of a cent per litre, which apparently continues to please people.
It’s foolish in the sense that you’re a fool to parse $9.99 in a different category from $10. In my opinion, at least. If enough people are fools to make that worthwhile, well, colour me unsurprised.
It isn’t foolish in that they do realize on a conscious level that $9.99 is just the same as $10.00. Most people’s price points aren’t mathematically defined. Instead the decision as to whether to buy something involves a heuristical cost benefit analysis. And when presented with a price our brains heuristically incorporate the number of digits in the price as part of the cost. So when people on the fence about whether to make a purchase being presented with a product that costs $9.99 might “feel” affordable, but when presented with a $10.00 product it might not.
If you’re going to argue that $9.99 shouldn’t be put in a different category than $10.00 then should $9.97? What about $9.96, … what about $3.32, … At some point you make a one penny shift. For most people it comes around even numbers of dollars.
When I was in the Navy I was stationed in Scotland for three years, and that’s how the commissary did things. I kept track for a year or so, and at the end was three cents ahead; the difference was never more than seven cents either way.
The commissary in La Maddalena worked that way, too.
When I first started work in the late 50s, my employer rounded the weekly pay packet, In those days we had Pounds, shillings and pence. 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a Pound. The lowest value note was 10 shillings, and we were only given notes, so it could happen that we might be 19 shillings and 11 pence down one week.
Depends on the product. Most small retail items end there prices with .x9. More and more often it’s .99 because so many things are priced in dollars now. The other day at the hardware store they had their small hardware (nuts and bolts) priced at .x9 and .x5. .x5 pricing was once more common but so few items are priced low enough to make the distinction significant.
I looked at our recent flyer, and every single item minus multiple-unit pricing (like 4/$5.00) ended in .x9" I know some stores like to end in 7 or 8 or something (Walmart?) but I shop there rarely enough that I don’t know what their little price code is (don’t some number like 4 mean it’s extra discounted or about to be discontinued or something.)
At any rate, no mater how logically $9.99 (or $9.95) and $10 should mean the same thing, and no matter how often people sneer at others who supposedly don’t “get” this, I do believe there is a subtle psychological effect it has – even if you are 100% fully aware. I like to think it makes no difference to me, but I don’t think I’m immune from the gentle psychological pull of such pricing.
There was one Chicago area grocery store, possibly Butera, that used to price sales ending in 8s, so 88 cents, 98 cents, etc. I don’t have a Butera nearby any longer.
I have no doubt it works. Even if you think $9.00 when you see $8.99 I think everyone is unconsciously affected. I don’t know how to explain this well but I think everyone is looking upward or downward on their own internal price scale and $8.99 draws you toward downward toward the lower price range.
I have heard another idea similar to the 2 banana theory where you end up buying something just to prove how smart you are for not getting fooled by the pricing trick.
I feel compelled to note that many retailers use unusual numbers in the cents part of prices as a code for seasonal items, clearance items, and the like. Target, for example, usually uses $°.99, but a $°.°8 means it’s clearance, and $°.°4 means clearance final markdown.
I was at the grocery store today, and when the register opened, I noticed two Sacajawea dollar coins, and two Susan B. Anthony dollars, and asked the cashier if I could buy them out of his drawer. He said, “Yeah, I guess you can buy my money” and we traded. Don’t see them often.
