Obsolete Pennies

The copper 1-cent coin is obsolete. One can no longer buy a chocolate mint with it from the change of a dinner check. I don’t think one can buy anything with a penny, or even three or four pennies.

Most items at the supermarket are priced in cents or in dollars and cents, as in 37 cents, $1.59, etc. Purchases could be rounded off to the nearest nickel. In the purchase of a single item, the purchase would sometimes cost 2 cents less or sometimes 2 cents more than the marked price. However, most purchases in the markets involve multiple items, totaling from less than $1 to sometimes more than $100, so the 2-cent loss or gain would be insignificant, and would even out over a period of time.

Sales tax could also be rounded off to the nearest nickel. I charted 12 separate sales tax purchases, with 6.5% added to each purchase. The total of the purchases came to $100. The total sales tax without rounding to the nearest 5 cents was $6.49. Rounded to the nearest nickel the tax came to $6.50.

Averaged over the year, there would be no significant difference in the amount of sales tax collected.

As for returning 1-cent deposit containers such as bottles and cans, they could pay out at five for a nickel, or better still raise the deposit to a nickel per container, where it really should be to do any good in cleaning our streets and parks.

Frankly, I don’t have much hope for the elimination of the almost valueless penny in the near future. Those who value sentiment and tradition over practicality usually make a lot of noise when changes in outworn usage are suggested.

SCOTT WARWICK

North Hollywood