The mighty penny (Update: RIP the penny)

Shockmo said
It would be insignificant. Cash registers could be easily programmed to round "total purchase" to the nearest $.05. Would not effect business pricing of goods in the least bit.

And what the heck do the oil companies have to do with this conversation? lol....x2

bclemms said
Now you are worried about inflation?

The price doesn't go up on anything on paper. A stamp cost 42 cents. If you buy one it would cost 40 cents. If you buy ten it would cost $4.20 if you bought 53 it would be $22.25 instead of $22.26. I could see how an item that would be purchased in bulk such as stamps would go to 43 cents so it wouldn't be cheaper to buy them 1 at a time but it doesn't have to jump a nickle.

If gas is $2.99 a gallon and you buy 10 gallons then the total would round up from $22.99 to $30.00 or it would cost the consumer a whole tenth of a cent per gallon.

I see what you are saying about businesses trying to use it to increase profit but if they wanted to raise prices now nothing is stopping them. Competition determines the ultimate price of an item.

It really isn't that important to me. I already round all my prices off to the nearest $5 and anytime you multiply a number (tax) by 5 it comes out rounded to the nearest nickel anyway. It would just save the country time, money and natural resources as well as the energy used to mine and produce pennies.

Just saying if we wanted to do it then it wouldn't be difficult at all.

I am not a penny pincher but I don't understand people who would volunteer a price increase for "convenience". That money is going to profits of others to live on. Its not going to reduce your taxes, not going to pay for community inprovements, not going to quality of life.

For example. You will not see $2.76/gal. anything above 2.75 would be 2.80. and you may think this is minor but it is not. Not only will you be volunteering to pay more just because there are no pennies but competition between stations will be minimized as well. How often do you drive to a gas station a block away because they are selling gas at $2.76 vs $2.78??

It may only cost consumers a couple hundred bucks a year but it would improve profits of the big corporations by millions to hundreds of millions. I would gladly accept $.01 of every gallon of gas Exxon sells as my yearly salary.

Also, when businesses start rounding everything up to the next nickle the nickle will eventually be as undervalued as the penney. Suddenly a .10 price difference or increase may not be too much for you too accept.

Pricing is a big piece of consumer marketing. So much so that suppliers have reduced the quantity in packages where possible so they do not harm the psychological acceptable price by consumers.