Getting rid of the penny introduces a new problem: nickels

[zdw]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/business/costs-of-pennies-and-nickels

[rolph]

nickles make the grift even better. now you price at $4.95 instead of $4.99 now the PITA of diggin for change, still makes people pay $5.00, but you get 5 cents in the shade, instead of 1 cent. if you sell a lot of sandwiches, or coffee deals, this makes a good bit of free, invisible dark lunch money.

[tlb → rolph]

Most states have sales tax added on top of the listed price so items being round numbers don't cause the total to be a round number.

[quantified → tlb]

For non-cash purchases, it doesn't matter, does it? I prefer cash when I can, for the record.

If taxes add on, and pennies disappear, tax rules may change since a few 100ths of a dollar may be required to round up from the total to be able to pay. Either those go to the shopkeeper (incentivizing them to set prices for the tax rounding behavior) or to the taxman.