The Tribune erred in stating that the Legal Tender Modernization Act introduced in July “would require merchants to round up or down to the nearest nickel rather than calculate prices to the penny” (“A penny saved is a penny saved,” Editorial, Aug. 19). The bill clearly states that prices should be totaled along with sales tax, and the resulting sum is then rounded up or down to the nearest nickel for cash transactions only, not for credit card and check purchases.
The bill goes on to say, “No provision in this section shall be construed as evidence of any intention to eliminate the pricing of goods or services to the nearest cent or mill . . .”
A merchant would be out of business quickly if he or she rounded all prices up, let’s say, to $3 while the competition stayed at $2.99. Sales tax, multiple purchases and items purchased by weight, such as meat and produce, all have a randomizing effect on the final digit, making it virtually impossible to control.
The Bureau of Mines has said 1.24 million tons of zinc ore is needed to mint 13 billion pennies for one year–an environmentally costly way to keep the penny in America’s lexicon. Retailers spend about 10 cents to purchase each roll of 50 pennies and pay employees to count them after each shift.
Has anyone at the Tribune tried to spend a “nest egg” of pennies? The task is so difficult that last year, Americans spent about $100 million in commissions to a national coin-redemption company to convert more than $1 billion worth of coins back into spendable money. By any calculation, a penny saved is much less than a penny earned when the hidden costs are factored in.
At least that’s my nickel’s worth.
