All I meant was the proper name for the denomination, as set by the coinage act of 1792, is cent. Five-cent coins do exist, and people call them nickels. People call dollars bucks, too, but those are not the official legal names of the things.
The new price for everything would be $xx.98, because it’s cheaper!
In Canada and NZ, are prices required to be rounded? That is, is the cash price different than the credit card price?
In the US, I bet even if we got rid of pennies, and if we rounded for cash transactions, credit card transactions would go unchanged. The US won’t ban prices indivisible by $0.05. Heck, we already pay $2.50 and 9/10 per gallon of gas!
Rounding is not a legal requirement in Canada, but everyone does it under guidelines issued by the federal government when they phased out the penny.
Rounding is only for cash transactions. Debit and credit payments aren’t rounded.
That’s also been the practice in Australia since we ditched our one and two cent coins.
It seems to me I get things rounded down as often as up. I’d also like to see the nickel go, but that would leave the dime (official names: dime in US and ten cents in Canada) and quarter (official names: quarter dollar in US and 25 cents in Canada) incommensurable, which would be awkward. I also don’t mind carrying loonies and toonies. A fin might be fun.
Okay, maybe that’s not *quite *like your speakers going up to 11, but…
My cite is also an example of the fact the US Mint is willing to use the term, which means it cannot be wrong even if you’re willing to disregard little things like how language works and where words come from.
A) Congress would have to allow it. Congress is generally bad at getting things done, including things that are much more important and necessary than getting rid of pennies.
B) There are moneyed interests against it. There are also moneyed interests that want to ditch the penny, but inertia is not on their side.
C) The perceived saliency of the issue will favor keeping the penny. Nobody is fired up about getting rid of the penny, but some dumb people are adamant that they’ll lose significant amounts of money on the change. (I don’t think there would actually be any measurable rage. Look at Canada’s experience, where the penny just faded away and the change was barely noticed. But then reflect on point A and consider the likelihood that Congress would look for this information and apply it to the USA.)
Lots of coins have been retired since 1857, among which were the half-dime (1873), the 20 cent piece (1878), and all the gold coins.
Personally, I hope the penny sticks around. I’ve been hording them, and sorting them by date & mint mark for many years. I’ve got over 20,000 ($200) now.
Pennies from 1983-present: 181 pennies weigh a pound. 20,000 of these pennies weigh 110 pounds.
Pennies from 1982 and earlier: 146 pennies weigh a pound. 20,000 of these pennies weigh 137 pounds.
ThatsAlottaPennies!
If the U.S. discontinued pennies, with card transactions accurate to a penny, but cash transactions rounded, I’d not be surprised if many stores made it an advertisable feature that X+3¢ rounds down. (Are there many items purchased singly with a price as low as 18¢ ? If so, such items might be repriced at 19¢.)
Many stores have a tray of pennies sitting up front available for the taking – I don’t think any of them (vendors or patrons) will actually care about 3¢ in a transaction (not in an item).
That’s the stupid thing. Some people decry the idea of eliminating the penny, thinking that they will be cheated. But many leave pennies behind after a transaction. So it’s obvious that people don’t value such small amounts.
They should stop making all coins and paper money, and hasten the conversion to a cashless society. Save metals, trees and ink.
Then all the coins in my piggy bank will be worth more and I can sell them as antiques. Profit!
Haven’t seen any such ads up here. We round the “proper” way (1 and 2 cents round down, 3 and 4 round up). Maybe there are exceptions but if there are any they are few and far between. Do you really think it would be any different in your neck of the woods?
They aren’t necessarily the same people. But even assuming the worst case scenario it won’t cost much. Assuming a person who does two cash transactions a day that cost the max - 2 1/2 cents, over a year they’ll have lost a whole nine bucks. If the government were concerned about its impact on the poor, they could mitigate it by increasing the minimum wage by…1 cent an hour, which would more than make up for this.
How much do Canadians care about it? I’m guessing that if it really would lead to as much concern and outrage in U.S.A. as some Americans claim, that some retailers would find a way to profit off the outrage.
I say get rid of the three smallest denomination coins and replace them with the “bit”.
Who carries cash anymore? Cash is an annoyance. Sure, I carry a little, but it’s rarely needed or used.
Why would you ever want or need to carry more than 4 dollar bills (or dollar coins)? That’s what $5 and larger bills are for.