I believe that this is pretty common for gas (petrol) prices around the world. I know that they do it in Germany and Canada and probably other countries as well. However, it is interesting that we already do have to round off the gas prices since we don't have a coin for the mill. We did have a half penny coin until 1857, but it was withdrawn presumably because of its low value. However, according to Wikipedia, it was worth 12ยข in today's money when it was withdrawn.
The US Dollar has lost 97% of its value since it was introduced in 1774. However, we still have the penny, the nickel, and the dime which cannot be used to buy anything that I know of. When I get these coins as change, I just put them in a jar and forget about them. I think that's what most people do with them. And because people like me hoard these coins, we have to over-produce just to keep them circulating. So why do we still produce these coins? Wouldn't it be better to get rid of them? - Andrew Winn On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 8:46 AM, Howard Ressel <[email protected]>wrote: > But the USA is the king of the marketers using every trick in the book > to sell more. Gas is even worse at 2.99 9/10 pre gallon. Maybe we > should have a 1/10 cent piece! > -- > > "Go for a Metric America" > Howard Ressel > Project Design Engineer, Region 4 > (585) 272-3372 > > > >>> On 4/19/2010 at 10:26 PM, in message > <[email protected]>, Al Lawrence > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The main resistance to the dollar coin in the US is that no one wants > to > > carry a big pocket full of change around. Replacing the dollar bill > with a > > coin makes sense, but only if you get rid of the penny at the same > time. > > That would require rounding up or down on some items. Unfortunately > many > > Americans are paranoid about losing a cent or two if merchants round > up more > > often than they round down. But what is even crazier, in the US > everything > > is priced at $ 2.99, $11.95 and even $99.99, and the real price is > usually > > five to eight percent higher, depending on taxes, so the real price > might be > > $3.23, $12.91 and $107.99 (which includes rounding, by the way). > > > > In many countries the price of a hamburger is listed as $3 and really > is $3, > > not listed as $2.99 and really costing $3.23. That is what results > in a > > pocket full of annoying change, and a dollar coin will make it worse. > >From > > personal experience in New Zealand, there are no pennies and you > almost never > > see a 5 or 10 cent coin. They have $1 and $2 coins, but because > almost all > > prices are "round" you still have less change in your pocket than you > do in > > the US. > > > > Until merchants in the US are forced to become honest and post the > real > > price (and stop playing the silly game of ninety-nine cents) and > Americans > > stop being afraid of paying an extra penny or two once in a while, > the penny > > will not go away and the dollar coin will remain a nuisance. > > > > > > Alan Lawrence > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars > with > > Hotmail. > > > > http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID283 > > > 26::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5 >
