# Would you be upset if the cashier did not give you any pennies back with your change? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330 "2006-04-12T04:45:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/41 "2006-04-12T22:36:42Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > I met someone who told me that he does not give way any pennies when giving out change. If your change is X amount of dollars and 67 cents, you would get back only 65 cents. If your change came out to 69 cents you would get back 70 cents. I guess he figures it all evens out in the end. > > I personally would not be upset and the cashier tells me that no customer has complained about it so far. > > Would you guys even notice? And if you did would you be upset or even go as far as to say something about it? I hope this catches on. If enough businesses start doing this, maybe the governmnet will finally get around to dumping the penny. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/42 "2006-04-12T22:53:01Z")
I have $65 in pennies and nickels sitting on my dresser waiting to be taken to the bank. I want my pennies. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/43 "2006-04-13T00:21:31Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Rounding is great. The only problem is the miserable bastards who make a point of buying $20. **02** worth of petrol. It’s to balance out the decades of paying the extra 1/10 of a cent on every gallon. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/44 "2006-04-13T06:28:39Z")
I’d probably notice and think “good for him!” It would be an unlikely math error, and frankly, the time spent fiddling with pennies is worth more to me, him, and the owner of the store than a couple of cents change. Everyone wins, and the money balances out in the end. I do like the idea of having a penny jar for the tightwads who think they’re being cheated. I wonder how many of them would take the pennies their owed? For those who **wouldn’t** take the pennies if they were available, but nevertheless would be upset if the pennies were kept from them, I wonder how you get through life. I find I have more than enough minor annoyances and small insults to worry about in my life without spending emotional energy on things I wouldn’t even fix if I could! Oh, and if I were the cashier and someone complained… …I’d hand them a nickle. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/45 "2006-04-13T06:42:43Z")
I wouldn’t care if I didn’t get pennies pack. I also don’t think that most people would care if they didn’t get them back. Whenever I give them back as change about half put them in the “give a penny, take a penny” thing, and the othert half waits for the one penny change that they get with a .99 bottle of water. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/46 "2006-04-13T06:57:32Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m all for ditching pennies (and paper dollars while we’re at it), but as long as we have them, it’s not a cashier’s prerogative to keep them from me. I’m generally not a big fan of people taking my money without asking. But who’ll think of the strippers!! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/47 "2006-04-13T07:23:29Z")
I thought I was a very cheap person. Then I read this: > [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Rounding is great. The only problem is the miserable bastards who make a point of buying $20. **02** worth of petrol. and the rest of this thread. And another of my notions of self has been obliterated. ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/48 "2006-04-13T09:07:18Z")
The better solution is to just add the blasted tax to each item, and then round to the nearest 5 cents (like a VAT) then setting the price. This way, no one is ‘cheated’ of their money. Plus, the price displayed is the price you pay. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/49 "2006-04-13T10:39:54Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Same here in the Netherlands, where this practice started two years ago or so. I don’t get it. Why are there still prices ending in something else than .05,.10,.15, etc… , then? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/50 "2006-04-13T11:01:52Z")
**Clairobscur** , the Netherlands didn’t abolish the 1 and 2 eurocent pieces. All that was done was to grant stores the right to round off price-totals to the nearest 5 ct mark. If a customer pays with a credit card, prices aren’t rounded off. But most large stores no longer are legally obliged to give back 1 and 2 cent coins if the real change would be less then 3 cent. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/51 "2006-04-13T13:10:14Z")
When South Africa got rid of its 1c and 2c coins most large retailer’s POS systems automatically rounded your purchase price down to the nearest 5c. I don’t really recall but I imagine the smaller retailers did something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/52 "2006-04-13T19:03:44Z")
Right now, my change pouch contains one fifty-cent coin… and a whole bunch of pennies. I cannot use pennies in any coin-operated device. If I want to pay the exact amount of a purchase in cash, I dig them out of my pouch and make people wait behind me in the lunch lineup. If I just throw a ten-dollar bill at the cashier, they have to dig out the pennies. The cafeteria people often object to too many pennies donated to the save-a-penny/tip dish at the till. Pennies seem more and more to just be in the way. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330/53 "2006-04-13T22:06:43Z")
When I spent 6 months in Switzerland in 1967, most merchants didn’t give use rappen (1/100 of a franc) any more. A few did, but most didn’t. They rounded up or down as appropriate. A rappen in 1967 was worth about 1/4 cent then and probably a couple cents in today’s money. By 1970, they had completely disappeared and no one seemed to mind. After all, when I was growing up, a penny was still worth something. An ice cream cone cost 5c and a piece of bubble gum from a machine was 1c. Today, an ice cream cone is well over a dollar and bubble gum from a machine costs a quarter. So it is absurd to keep the pennies. Someone above mentioned that he has a jar of 6500 pennies. I’ll bet they stay there. I think we all have jars of pennies. What good are they doing staying in a jar? In fact, a good case could be made for getting rid of nickels and dimes too. Everyone remember the story of Lincoln and the 2c. That story makes a lot more sense if we consider that a penny then may have the buying power of today’s dollar. But that was the smallest coin in circulation and people managed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-upset-if-the-cashier-did-not-give-you-any-pennies-back-with-your-change/352330.md?page=2)