• _bcron@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    The penny works but people no longer use it for rounding and just wind up with more and more pennies. Back in the day cashier would ask for something ending in an 8 so you hand over dollars and 3 extra pennies, change winds up on a 5, get a nickel instead of 2 more pennies. That is why the penny exists, not to buy things with pennies but to round to the next useful coin. Cashiers often look like a deer in headlights if they ask for 2.49 and you give them 5.04, bygone era

    • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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      18 days ago

      The other day I paid with a $20 bill and two ones for a $12 item so I can get a whole $10 back instead of more ones. The cashier mindlessly saw the $20 as a $10 because it’s so exceedingly rare for someone to intentionally overpay to control excess change. After that, I stopped doing it.

      • cm0002@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        because it’s so exceedingly rare for someone to intentionally overpay to control excess change.

        It’s getting rare to pay with cash at all

        I worked fast food many moons ago and even then it was like 80% card transactions

        • lunarul@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          Adding extra for round change was not only common, but cashiers would ask for it. But that was 20 years ago, when I still used cash. The only cash I ever see now is the one I keep around to put under my kids’ pillows for their teeth.

      • ptc075@lemmy.zip
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        17 days ago

        I’ve found the trick is you have to say “Here’s $22 dollars” out loud to them.

      • stoly@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Back in the day you did the math in your head and gave back change. If there’s a line, it’s easier and faster for you to pay a few cents extra so that the cashier can give you back a single nickel instead of multiple pennies. This is really about how many physical actions you need to take.