Trump instructs Treasury to halt penny production

[SeattleVet]

8. When I was stationed in Germany (1979-1981) the US stopped shipping pennies over.

It cost them more to ship than they were worth. All purchases were to be rounded up or down to the nearest $.05.

A guy in my shop was livid, claiming that everything would be rounded up, since prices usually ended in .98 or .99, and it would cost him more all the time. He wouldn't listen to reason (if you bought multiple items, the ending digit was much more random).

Finally we decided to track all of our purchases over a month and see how things really worked out.

At the end of 30 days we sat down and totaled up our receipts from the base exchange, restaurants, bowling alley, record shop, etc. We both averaged pretty darn close to a draw...maybe $0.15 on either side, and I think his was the $.15 lower one.

(Unfortunately the lesson didn't seem to stick, since he's now a huge MAGA supporter.)

It'll work out even more randomly now, when you add in the various sales taxes and the like. In places where cards are used you pay the actual price; the rounding only applies to cash purchases. I don't see any real downside to eliminating the penny. After all, we have gotten along fine after they eliminated the half cent coin that was minted from 1789 to 1853 - and while the feds never minted them, some states produced the 'mill', valued at 1/10 cent. Ever notice on coupons where the stated value is 1 mill?)