Yeah, let’s just go all the way and get rid of the number"1" as well. It is absolutely silly that any calculation in this day and time need that kind of precision.
Now I know I’m being whooshed.
WTF are you talking about? The number “1” can signify 1 million dollars or 1 millionth of a penny. Big difference.
This is a retarded argument. It’s not even an argument, for that matter. For starters, “1” has no units, and thus no significance. And that’s only the beginning of the stupidity.
Clearly, there are divisions of currency so small that they are not worth bothering with, otherwise we would still be dealing in hundredths of a cent. As inflation progresses, these minimum denominations become numerically larger. The UK did away with the ha’penny in around 1970. Since then money has (according to the CPI) more than sextupled. Why, then, is it ridiculous to say that coinage smaller than 3p is as useless now as the ha’penny was considered back in the 70s?
Whatever dude. Unlike you limeys we have only four, count em four, coins in regular use. It is not confusing, nor is it unwieldy. jtgain’s proposition is an attempted solution for a problem that does not exist. You don’t like pennys don’t use them. Pay with nickels and refuse the change I don’t care.
The OP (along with Klaatu) needs to be kicked in the head with an iron boot. If you want something, FUCKING PAY FOR IT, Jesus Christ, how hard is that? It’s inconvenient for you to carry change? Too motherfucking bad, don’t buy anything. My God, I’m amazed that the OP wasn’t run outta the metaphorical SDMB on a metaphorical rail! Shouldn’t some things be self evedient?
A penny saved is a penny earned, but not in this case I guess.
You see, Dave my lad, you’ve got it wrong. I am NOT trying to get out of paying for things. I am trying to get out of an inconvenience. If I pay with a twenty dollar bill for a $15.01 item, I’m hoping for a little gift, a courtesy if you will, rather than being saddled with $4.99 in change (note that in Canada this means not just 99 cents but also two to four dollars in heavier coins). I kid you not when I say that my right rear pants pocket (where I instinctively put coins) wears out because of this.
I understand that I have no right to get a free penny, to get a 0.067% discount. Still, and this is the part that nobody seems to understand, there is NO meaningful difference between $15.00 and $15.01. It’s “noise” from everybody’s perspective. Dead Badger was right on when he said we should simply get rid of the fucking penny. It is nothing more than an inconvenience. It can buy nothing.
Let me also use this opportunity to tell all those who would join you in kicking me in the head, that I am NOT talking about receiving the penny gift on things that cost 51 cents or even $4.51. No, I’m talking about times when the penny comprises less than 0.1% of the total, often even less. I think the amount I’m “asking” for is a very fair price to keep me, the customer, happy. For God’s sake, I’ve just given them business worth 1500 times their “investment”!
In the U.K. many retail premises have a charity collection box on site and its the custom here if you dont want your change to say “put it in the Blind box”(Though it could be any charityof course its just traditional to say blind)
Just to add a couple more points while I’m here,how would the poster feel if the cashier at every store they visited didn’t bother to give them their change if it was under a certain amount …a little bit peeved maybe?
But lets say it becomes common practice for businesses to let customers off of a penny on demand,how long before its a case of “Hey cummon we’re allowed a penny off if we’re short: whats the big deal about two pennies ?”
Then three then four and so on.
The slippery slope for some,unfortunately with some if you give them an inch they soon feel that they are ENTITLED to a mile.
You see, Karl my lad, you’ve got it wrong. The time of the people behind you in line and the time of the clerk at the register is worth far more than the abandoned pennies for which you are pecking about on the floor. Try some common courtesy next time.
People who focus on the supposed value of a penny are living petty and insignificant lives–as manifested by that focus. Bogus arguments about how the penny “adds up” are ridiculous, and could be applied to a denomination 1/10th the value of a penny. The penny coin has been devalued by time to a nuisance.
If you are still bending over to pick one up, get a life. If you aren’t, you agree with the OP.
Please help me kill the penny.
Exactly. In the OP’s example, I would give the clerk my $20 bill, then put the $0.01 on my handy Visa debit card, so that I could get a nice even $5 back.
Did it ever occur to you that if we remove the penny your $15.01 purchase would be rounced up to $15.05? Will you then throw a hissy fit demanding a nickel because you don’t want $0.95 (literally) burning a hole in your pocket?
I will bend over to pick up a penny because of the rhyme “See a penny, pick it up. All day long you’ll have good luck.”
Some people say that found pennies remind them of lost loved ones. I often drop pennies in parking lots hoping I can cause a random spot of sunshine in a strangers life.
I agree that pennies are basically worthless, and I would not cry if the government decided to do away with them.
However, I do not agree with the OP. The government has not yet decided that the penny is worthless, so clerks in many places are required to make sure that their cash drawers balance to the penny. Many of the clerks in those type of jobs are there while they are in school or couldn’t find a better job. Getting written up or fired because the OP is too special to carry change is probably not their idea of the way to do their job. Don’t want to get stuck with large coins? Carry a couple of small denomination coins with you. Then if your total is $15.01 you can hand over a $20 and a worthless penny and get a lovely fiver in return, without looking like an ass or delaying the people behind you.
IIRC we are the government. And our leaders will not do away with the penny until we stop obsessing over it. Please stop.
Your clerk example puts an ache in my heart and brings a tear to my eye but registers a “BS” on my Actual Truth meter. Any clerk who so desires could put out a penny cup and simply ask if the customer wants the penny change or if it should be put in the cup. At the end of the day she’d make money even she covered the OP’s situation.
PS: Picking up a penny will not improve your luck. Pass it on. You must be pulling my chain about using pennies to trigger memories of the dead. Throw away pennies b/c they are not worth carrying around. You wanna create good fortune for others and generate happy memories? Switch to tossing around Benjamins.
Not so - other countries that have retired smaller denominations have shown little or no detectable effect on inflation - indicating that prices were, by and large, rounded to the nearest possible value, rather than uniformly rounded up. So $15.01 would become $15, and $15.04 would become $15.05. Regardless, it’s utterly undeniable that having fewer possible prices will, on average, reduce the amount of change you end up carrying. 95c is still 2 to 4 fewer coins than 99c. Plus you’re more likely to have 5c coins on you since they’re more useful, so the number of times you even need change is reduced too.
Rounding (which already occurs in most purchases, after all) would follow the rules of rounding. Some things would go up a tiny bit. Some would go down a tiny bit.
Not unwieldy? We have four, count em four, completely worthless coins in regular use. What’s more unwieldy than worthless metal disks weighing down your pockets? Coins that you actually have to collect for months in a jar before they become valuable enough to bring down to CoinStar, paying them to count the stupid things for you.
Coins of such minuscule value that the only purpose they have in an average cash transaction is to prevent the buyer from getting more coins in return.
Frankly, we’re about 50 years late in ditching the penny, if we handled our currency right, we’d have 4 coins, $.25, $1, $2, $5 and 4 bills $10, $20, $50, $100.
You’d like to think that wouldn’t you? But I seriously have my doubts most stores would operate like that.
Um the OP is the one bending down and picking up pennies (stated in the OP):
The rest of us just wants to buy our product at the agreed upon price in a timely manner and don’t need the antics of KarlGauss hunting for a penny holding up everyone else who values out time more then $0.01.
Sorry, but your “clerk who so desires” example is bullshit. Haven’t you read the posts in this thread where people who work or have worked for large chain stores are told they cannot have a penny tray because of “clutter”? Or do you just read the ones who agree with you? Many independent stores allow this practice and I am all for it, but some stores do not. And I can promise you that in some chains if the camera catches a clerk putting money anywhere but the register (a cup, a pocket to use for a penniless customer) that clerk is going to be doing some explaining. I didn’t say it is right, but those chains operate on the idea that the customer pays exactly for what s/he buys and gets exactly the change due them.
And I really don’t care if you believe the ancedotes about pennies reminding some people of lost loved ones. If picking up a penny puts a smile on someone’s face - and it does mine even if I throw it right back down again - what concern is it of yours?
And since you obviously didn’t bother to read my entire post, I agreed that the penny is worthless. I do not obsess over pennies; I actually seldom think about them. I also pay what I owe and do not expect anyone - person or corporation - to cover any percentage of my purchase.