No more new pennies

[kalvado]

Pennies are outdated? I guess it's time to rev up the furnace and sell the resulting metal at a profit!

as of today, post-1982 pennies cost just shy of 1 cent in metal. So taking them to the bank is better.
And it's illegal to use or export US coins as scrap metal. Until you're a mint, of course.

[Scott5114]

I'm still getting plenty of pennies in Las Vegas.

Which leads me to a "minor thing that bothers you"...I paid cash at the teriyaki place I go to yesterday, and noticed their register rounded my change down by a penny. But when the drawer popped open it was full to the brim of shiny pennies.

[kalvado]

I'm still getting plenty of pennies in Las Vegas.

Which leads me to a "minor thing that bothers you"...I paid cash at the teriyaki place I go to yesterday, and noticed their register rounded my change down by a penny. But when the drawer popped open it was full to the brim of shiny pennies.

I guess you were not leaving any tips?

[Scott5114]

I'm still getting plenty of pennies in Las Vegas.

Which leads me to a "minor thing that bothers you"...I paid cash at the teriyaki place I go to yesterday, and noticed their register rounded my change down by a penny. But when the drawer popped open it was full to the brim of shiny pennies.

I guess you were not leaving any tips?

They had a separate tip box on the customer side of the counter. I only had $20s and $100s so I couldn't tip until after I got my change.

[vdeane]

What about a simple points system that keeps up with a customers ID and how many pennies they've had rounded up and if it goes up regardless they points to apply to purchases.

Don't give the intelligence agencies or big data any ideas.

[kalvado]

What about a simple points system that keeps up with a customers ID and how many pennies they've had rounded up and if it goes up regardless they points to apply to purchases.

Don't give the intelligence agencies or big data any ideas.

Why, it is already there, and is called "Visa"

[interstatefan990]

What about a simple points system that keeps up with a customers ID and how many pennies they've had rounded up and if it goes up regardless they points to apply to purchases.

Don't give the intelligence agencies or big data any ideas.

This idea is pretty benign compared to some of the ideas these agencies/corporations likely keep under wraps.

[ClassicHasClass]

What about a simple points system that keeps up with a customers ID and how many pennies they've had rounded up and if it goes up regardless they points to apply to purchases.

Don't give the intelligence agencies or big data any ideas.

This idea is pretty benign compared to some of the ideas these agencies/corporations likely keep under wraps.

"Today, the penny. Tomorrow, YOUR LIBERTY."

[interstatefan990]

What about a simple points system that keeps up with a customers ID and how many pennies they've had rounded up and if it goes up regardless they points to apply to purchases.

Don't give the intelligence agencies or big data any ideas.

This idea is pretty benign compared to some of the ideas these agencies/corporations likely keep under wraps.

"Today, the penny. Tomorrow, YOUR LIBERTY."

And best believe they won't ask what your two cents is.

[Scott5114]

What about a simple points system that keeps up with a customers ID and how many pennies they've had rounded up and if it goes up regardless they points to apply to purchases.

Don't give the intelligence agencies or big data any ideas.

This idea is pretty benign compared to some of the ideas these agencies/corporations likely keep under wraps.

"Today, the penny. Tomorrow, YOUR LIBERTY."

Well, yeah.

[ClassicHasClass]

In the not-working-as-intended dept., my wife and I were buying groceries earlier today at Walmart. The bill came to $30.19. We inserted $40.20. Naturally this would under prior circumstances yield $10.01 in change, but the self-checkout indicated that it would credit us $0.04 (rounding in our favour, I guess), so we were due $10.05 in change.

It obligingly dispensed $10 in bills, and then the $0.05 ... as five pennies.

Our current working theory is that the till was out of nickels, but still, this seemed like a bug.

[Road Hog]

I'm on vacation the next couple of weeks, but my store was to install rounding in the customer's favor into the POS systems. That'll pretty much take pennies out of the equation totally. We'll still accept copper and it will remain legal tender — at least until the tweakers discover them.

[kphoger]

I'm on vacation the next couple of weeks, but my store was to install rounding in the customer's favor into the POS systems. That'll pretty much take pennies out of the equation totally. We'll still accept copper and it will remain legal tender — at least until the tweakers discover them.

You realize, right, that I can pay for a $10.15 purchase with a ten-dollar bill, a dime, and five pennies.

[Road Hog]

I'm on vacation the next couple of weeks, but my store was to install rounding in the customer's favor into the POS systems. That'll pretty much take pennies out of the equation totally. We'll still accept copper and it will remain legal tender — at least until the tweakers discover them.

You realize, right, that I can pay for a $10.15 purchase with a ten-dollar bill, a dime, and five pennies.

If you can pay exact change with pennies nonetheless, then you are doing Tim Tebow's work.

A $10.15 purchase would not require rounding. However, a $10.14 one would result in a rounding down to $10.10 and a resulting 4¢ bonus to the customer, paid with a nickel.

[Scott5114]

I'm on vacation the next couple of weeks, but my store was to install rounding in the customer's favor into the POS systems. That'll pretty much take pennies out of the equation totally. We'll still accept copper and it will remain legal tender — at least until the tweakers discover them.

You realize, right, that I can pay for a $10.15 purchase with a ten-dollar bill, a dime, and five pennies.

Presumably those pennies would go in the drawer and just sit until the end of the shift, at which point they'd be sent to the bank (perhaps staying in the store safe until fifty of them could be accumulated and rolled).

[kphoger]

Presumably those pennies would go in the drawer and just sit until the end of the shift, at which point they'd be sent to the bank (perhaps staying in the store safe until fifty of them could be accumulated and rolled).

It's weird that they wouldn't simply allow the cashier to give them to a later customer as change instead of a nickel.

[Scott5114]

Presumably those pennies would go in the drawer and just sit until the end of the shift, at which point they'd be sent to the bank (perhaps staying in the store safe until fifty of them could be accumulated and rolled).

It's weird that they wouldn't simply allow the cashier to give them to a later customer as change instead of a nickel.

Well, if they have no way to tell the register that they're doing that, that'd make the till off by 3¢ or whatever.

[kphoger]

Presumably those pennies would go in the drawer and just sit until the end of the shift, at which point they'd be sent to the bank (perhaps staying in the store safe until fifty of them could be accumulated and rolled).

It's weird that they wouldn't simply allow the cashier to give them to a later customer as change instead of a nickel.

Well, if they have no way to tell the register that they're doing that, that'd make the till off by 3¢ or whatever.

Scenario #1:

Bob buys a wangdoodle, and his total is $10.15.  He pays with a ten-dollar bill, a dime, and five pennies.

Johnny Cashier puts all that money in the drawer.  Have a nice day.

Later, Sylvia buys a wangdoodle, and her total is $10.15.  She pays with a ten-dollar bill and two dimes.

Johnny Cashier puts all that money in the drawer and gives Sylvia a nickel as change.  Have a nice day.

At closing time, the pennies are collected and sent to the bank.


Scenario #2:

Bob buys a wangdoodle, and his total is $10.15.  He pays with a ten-dollar bill, a dime, and five pennies.

Johnny Cashier puts all that money in the drawer.  Have a nice day.

Later, Sylvia buys a wangdoodle, and her total is $10.15.  She pays with a ten-dollar bill and two dimes.

Johnny Cashier puts all that money in the drawer and gives Sylvia five pennies as change.  Have a nice day.

At closing time, there are no pennies to be collected and sent to the bank.

[Scott5114]

Johnny Cashier puts all that money in the drawer and gives Sylvia five pennies as change. 

Sylvia is apt to get mad and ask Johnny's manager to do a No Sale to give her a nickel.

[kphoger]

Sylvia is apt to get mad and ask Johnny's manager to do a No Sale to give her a nickel excited because she heard they're no longer making pennies anymore and has started hoarding them in a bucket at home.