# New version of the Guinea
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [June 12, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941 "2010-06-12T18:47:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Swiftie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swiftie)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/1 "2010-06-12T18:47:16Z")
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!
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LINK TO COLUMN: [In Britain, what’s the difference between a pound and a guinea? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/300/in-britain-whats-the-difference-between-a-pound-and-a-guinea)
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/2 "2010-06-12T19:25:45Z")
You could simply abolish pennies. I wish we would.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/3 "2010-06-12T20:38:05Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/4 "2010-06-12T20:54:34Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/5 "2010-06-13T02:21:31Z")
Actually, when I was a kid in Maine, the sales tax was 1%, so a 99¢ purchase normally ended up an even dollar.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/6 "2010-06-13T07:16:26Z")
**needscoffee** said:
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2010, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/7 "2010-06-13T11:47:26Z")
Introuducing a new Guinea coin is just pap-ua to attract the fringe voter.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/8 "2010-06-13T12:44:26Z")
> [@Cazzle](#):
>
> 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.
I find this odd. Why not just price to the smallest circulating denomination?
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/9 "2010-06-13T18:31:07Z")
> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> 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.
> [@Irishman](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/10 "2010-06-13T21:11:35Z")
> [@spark240](#):
>
> I find this odd. Why not just price to the smallest circulating denomination?
Well, as he said, most transactions are electronic, so it doesn’t matter.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/11 "2010-06-13T23:25:22Z")
**Swiftie** , I’ve added a link to the column in your initial post. Makes it easier for others to track what’s going on.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-version-of-the-guinea/542941/12 "2010-06-14T00:19:27Z")
> [@spark240](#):
>
> I find this odd. Why not just price to the smallest circulating denomination?
The till rounds the _total_ to the nearest 5¢.