My theory is if a singular coin can't be used to purchase anything, it should be eliminated. Is there a single thing that can be purchased for a penny, nickel or dime? Get rid of them all. Round prices to the nearest quarter. Or at least just round to the dime, so we can get rid of the hundredth digit in pricing.
"In a country that’s officially a penny short", pure poetry
I wonder if the left-digit bias effect is greater when it also bumps the price up to the next order of magnitude, i.e., $9.99 to $10.00 vs $2.99 to $3.00. I also wonder if people who work with numbers all day have the same propensity for it as the general populace, or if it's been trained out of them to some degree.
Lots of finger pointing as to which part of our monetary system is "to blame" for the penny going away, but few seem to be blaming the devaluation of our currency via rampant, unchecked inflation. Hmmm
I've always found left-digit pricing funny when you look at really big purchases. It's truly funny how homes priced around half a million dollars are listed for $499,995.
As an Australian visitor to, and occasional resident of, the US, I never quite got over the feeling of being conned that arises from .99 posted prices that exclude sales tax. I see something for 9.99, think "that's cheap", pull out my $10 note and then get asked for another 30 cents. Next day, like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football, I fall for the very same trick.
I'm post-cash now and unlikely to revisit the US any time soon, but I still react to any mention of this.
My theory is if a singular coin can't be used to purchase anything, it should be eliminated. Is there a single thing that can be purchased for a penny, nickel or dime? Get rid of them all. Round prices to the nearest quarter. Or at least just round to the dime, so we can get rid of the hundredth digit in pricing.
The Atlanta Fed had a good article about this topic, including issues with removing the nickel. It has a section that looked at different denominations across the U.S., Canada, and the Euro Area: https://www.atlantafed.org/blogs/macroblog/2025/11/03/rounding-rules-and-cash-inflation-when-we-no-longer-make-cents
"In a country that’s officially a penny short", pure poetry
I wonder if the left-digit bias effect is greater when it also bumps the price up to the next order of magnitude, i.e., $9.99 to $10.00 vs $2.99 to $3.00. I also wonder if people who work with numbers all day have the same propensity for it as the general populace, or if it's been trained out of them to some degree.
Lots of finger pointing as to which part of our monetary system is "to blame" for the penny going away, but few seem to be blaming the devaluation of our currency via rampant, unchecked inflation. Hmmm
I've always found left-digit pricing funny when you look at really big purchases. It's truly funny how homes priced around half a million dollars are listed for $499,995.
My company is moving to penny rounding also. We just set up the accounts
How are y'all bracing for the angry customers?
Yes 😆
As an Australian visitor to, and occasional resident of, the US, I never quite got over the feeling of being conned that arises from .99 posted prices that exclude sales tax. I see something for 9.99, think "that's cheap", pull out my $10 note and then get asked for another 30 cents. Next day, like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football, I fall for the very same trick.
I'm post-cash now and unlikely to revisit the US any time soon, but I still react to any mention of this.