# Discontinue the Penny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 19, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962 "2014-09-19T14:06:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962/61 "2014-10-03T19:08:18Z")
…it’s also worth mentioning (again) that Australia switched from a paper $1 note to a $1 coin **thirty years ago** in **1984**. We did the same with the $2 note in **1988** , and since then our lowest note has been the $5 note. We also started changing our notes to polymer in the early 90s and completed the process for all notes in 1996. OK, we’re not the biggest economy in the world, but we _are_ in the top 20 by all counts. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962/62 "2014-10-03T19:26:58Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > The only problem is that we’d have to agree, are we going to round off to the nearest .05 or round off to the nearest .10 or round off to the nearest .25 or round off to the nearest whole number. If some stores rounded off one way and other stores rounded off another way, people might get upset. One store might take $5.17 and round it off to $5.15 while another store would round it off to $5.25 and yet another would round it off to $5.00. But if we all agreed on how to do it, I don’t see a problem. What makes you think that would happen? More than likely, you’d end up with the following situations: 1.) Stores round up/down to the nearest 5 cent boundary. I.e. $5.12 rounds to $5.10, and $5.13 rounds up to $5.15. Most people don’t give a shit, because they don’t pay in cash much anymore. Only the poor and the paranoid are bothered by the cash rounding, and who cares? 2.) Stores actually engineer their prices to account for sales tax so that they don’t have to round up/down on the final bill and annoy people paying cash. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962/63 "2014-10-04T01:50:17Z")
> [@bump](#): > > 2.) Stores actually engineer their prices to account for sales tax so that they don’t have to round up/down on the final bill and annoy people paying cash. That would require changing how sales taxes work. Right now (at least in my state) they’re rounded based on the total taxable amount, not on each item, so you can’t add items together and assume the tax adds up exactly. Right now, in my county, one 93 cent item would cost $1, but two would be $1.99. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962/64 "2014-10-05T16:10:12Z")
You countries without pennies and other small coins: are they still valid, legal currency? If my bill comes to $2.04 and I have legacy coins, can I still settle without paying $2.05? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962/65 "2014-10-05T18:22:34Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > You countries without pennies and other small coins: are they still valid, legal currency? If my bill comes to $2.04 and I have legacy coins, can I still settle without paying $2.05? They are legal tender here (just as our $1 and $2 biils are even though it’s been many years since they were in circulation). Doesn’t mean shopkeepers have to accept them (but banks will). Same issue as with trying to pay for something with a bucket of coins. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962/66 "2014-10-06T05:49:41Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > You countries without pennies and other small coins: are they still valid, legal currency? If my bill comes to $2.04 and I have legacy coins, can I still settle without paying $2.05? Depends on the country. New Zealand demonitized their 1 and 2 cent pieces - they are no longer legal tender, though you can exchange them at a reserve bank. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962/67 "2014-10-06T06:25:39Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Depends on the country. New Zealand demonitized their 1 and 2 cent pieces - they are no longer legal tender, though you can exchange them at a reserve bank. In any case, in New Zealand, they were only legal tender in tiny quantities (20 cents or less), so for practical purposes they had been meaningless _as legal tender_ for as long as they’d existed. It’s not like people went around settling 18 cent debts or paying 14 cent fines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discontinue-the-penny/698962.md?page=3)