[grantbachman]

Pennies do have their place though. As much as I dislike carrying them around, imagine not being able to divide up money past the 5 cent barrier. Every store would have to change their prices to the exact point at which the price of the item + sales tax equaled a multiple of 5 cents. Or they would keep the item prices the same, at which point customers might not like they are being charged, at the maximum, 4 cents more than they should. Those pennies add up.

[Aramgutang]

We don't need to "imagine" not being able to divide up money past the 5 cent barrier. Here in Australia, pennies have been abolished and everything is either rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents.

New Zealand has already taken it one step further and has abolished 5-cent coins as well, rounding everything to the nearest 10. There's talk of doing that in Australia as well.

Keep in mind that the Aussie dollar is worth more than a US one, and Kiwi dollar is worth only 20% less, so we're talking similar amounts of value being rounded up/down.

Now, if only Australia hadn't compensated the abolishment of 1 and 2 cent coins with the GIANT 50 cent coins, my wallet would be very happy.

[ghshephard]

If you simply round to the nearest penny (3,4,5,6,7=5, and 8,9,0,1,2=0)on all transactions, then it evens out.

Those pennies really don't add up. See if you can find a store that won't add in the extra pennies to round you up, seriously - they certainly don't care.

[mynameishere]

A lot of fraud has been perpetuated by people shaving fractions of pennies off payrolls etc. Of course it adds up, and nobody's going to be rounding down anything. If a product costs 1.37, you will pay 1.37 with a credit card, and 1.40 with cash. And yeah it's the blue collar slob with two bankruptcies whose going to get his pennies shaved off.

[colanderman]

No you won't. I never see charges with fractions of pennies when I use my card at the gas pumps (which charge 9/10¢ extra per gallon, remember); why would I see charges with fractions of nickels when pennies are gone?

[nirvdrum]

I'm pretty sure the IRS cares though. GAAP don't allow you to just adjust numbers.

[derobert]

The IRS generally allows rounding to the nearest dollar on tax forms (at least individual and small business; not sure if large corporate are allowed to round even more). In fact, all the common tax software does so automatically; the only way to file a return to the cent is to do so by hand.

[colanderman]

I'm pretty sure they don't, or else they'd be hounding you for the fractional pennies that you owe them (3/20 of every penny earned, remember!).

[wisty]

I doubt they care, as long as you pay 10% (or whatever it is) of total taxable revenue. I think that's how it works in Australia, where we do round.

The tax man only cares about aggregates, unless they are in audit mode.

[wisty]

In Australia, the shops will say "4.99", and round the total (say $24.87) off. The occasional crazy old granny will go through the supermarket checkout multiple times, forcing them to round down multiple times, but it's not that common. Inflation means that even 5c coins are seen as an annoyance by shopkeepers.

[colanderman]

> Every store would have to change their prices to the exact point at which the price of the item + sales tax equaled a multiple of 5 cents.

Um, you know that sales tax results in prices with fractional pennies? And that stores simply round the prices?

> Or they would keep the item prices the same, at which point customers might not like they are being charged, at the maximum, 4 cents more than they should.

You mean like how gas stations add on 9/10 of a cent to every gallon?

[JoeAltmaier]

I have completely rid myself of coins. I leave them All in the penny tray. If they object, I give them to a friend I'm with, or finally toss them in the trash on the way out. At the drive-up, I toss them all in the donation slot.

No more pockets with a clump of metal in the bottom. No more fooling around trying to make a purchase come out even. Certainly no more counting them.

Its an amazing, liberating feeling! And it costs me far less than the time and effort I win back.

[underwater]

Many supermarkets in the UK have donation jars at the checkout. I'd usually just leave all the coins I got in change. I haven't noticed that here in the US.

[jules]

Recently the in the Netherlands shops have started rounding the total cost to 5 cents. It saves work, nobody complains (even though euro cents are worth more than dollar cents).

[kamagmar]

We should get rid of the penny and the nickel, and then issue 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 cent coins.