We British are still working on revising our currency. Because so many prices end in 0.99, the Monster Raving Loony Party proposed introducing a new £0.99 coin, to avoid the odd pennies that you’d otherwise end up with. I’d vote for that!
LINK TO COLUMN: In Britain, what’s the difference between a pound and a guinea? - The Straight Dope
You could simply abolish pennies. I wish we would.
The reason they first came up with the .99 is so that the person at the cash register would have to ring up the sale to put the money in and return you your change. Otherwise it was too easy to just pocket the money.
I thought it was because $1.99 reads as “a dollar something” to people, and they perceive $2.00 as more expensive even though it’s a negligible difference.
We abolished 1 and 2 cent coins here years ago but things are still priced at odd numbers of cents. They just round it off at the till. Most transactions seem to be electronic these days anyway.
Actually, when I was a kid in Maine, the sales tax was 1%, so a 99¢ purchase normally ended up an even dollar.
needscoffee said:
Cite please? I’ve always been told it was because it looks like less money. Same way gas prices are 2.36[sup]9[/sup], because it looks like a cent less per gallon.
Introuducing a new Guinea coin is just pap-ua to attract the fringe voter.
I find this odd. Why not just price to the smallest circulating denomination?
This was the added benefit, which ended up being the biggest benefit. But how it first came to be was to prevent employee theft by forcing him to ring up the purchase and open the drawer to return change. I first read this in Bill Bryson’s Made in America, so I don’t know what his source was.
Well, as he said, most transactions are electronic, so it doesn’t matter.
Swiftie, I’ve added a link to the column in your initial post. Makes it easier for others to track what’s going on.
The till rounds the total to the nearest 5¢.