Washington, DC has decided to phase out the use of the penny. We don’t know exactly how many pennies are in circulation in the United States, but the best guess runs somewhere between 114 and 140 billion of them. Since 1793, the US Mint has knocked out about 500 billion, but a combination of collecting, hoarding and placing them on railroad tracks means that we have much fewer than that available now.
Round up or round down?
So, the question is, what do we do now? Do we just use a credit card to pay for everything including candy bars? Do retail businesses just round everything up or down to the nearest nickel? Washington state legislature has been thinking about it, because whenever something like this happens, you know you have to get the politicians involved.
According to axios.com,
‘so state lawmakers may let them round to the nearest nickel.
The legislation to allow rounding on cash transactions aims to clarify how customers and stores should operate in an increasingly penniless world.
Under House Bill 2334, if the final digit of a cash transaction ends in $0.01, $0.02, $0.06, or $0.07, it could be rounded down to the nearest nickel.’
Don’t get excited because they also have a rule for rounding up. It’s the final digit in the cash transactions that end at $0.03, $0.04, $0.08, or $0.09, Then the retailer gets to round up.
The lawmakers seem to think that this round down, round up choice will make everything even out in the end.
But I have a question.
How long will it take retailers to figure out that they can make everything they sell wind up with a “round up” number. I don’t imagine it will take too long. I mean, we have software for that kind of stuff, don’t we? Look, you won’t even need AI for this.
I’m just being a little contentious here. I’m glad we’re getting rid of the penny. But if retailers are smart, thanks to this law, they could make a little extra money along the way.
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Gallery Credit: Reesha Cosby