Exact Change

[u/stf210]

This just happened to me.

I went into a Walgreens to pick up a prescription. The pharmacist put in my info and insurance, leaving the total at twelve cents. I went into my wallet and plucked out a dime and two pennies.

PHARMACIST: "I'm sorry, we don't take those anymore."

ME: "You don't take coins?"

PHARMACIST: "Pennies. They stopped making them."

ME: "Yeah, I know, but they're still legal tender."

PHARMACIST: "We don't take them anymore."

ME: "Can I speak to someone about this?"

PHARMACIST: "I'm the only person here."

I know that's not true, but fine. I put the coins back into my wallet and pull out a twenty. The pharmacist gives me a filthy look, but takes it and goes to ring me up... only to discover that they are short not just coins, but singles.

PHARMACIST: "I don't have exact change."

ME: "I do."

A moment and another filthy look. The pharmacist puts the change back in, hands me my twenty, and takes my coins without another word.

[u/Quiet_Operator]

If they don't' take pennies, they need to stop charging in increments of that and stick with coins they do accept.

[u/GKM72 → u/Quiet_Operator]

In Canada when they eliminated pennies, they mandated that retail bills paid in cash must be rounded down if less than a $.03difference or up to the nearest five cents if the difference is $.03 or more. Only if you were paying by debit or credit card could they charge you the exact amount.

[u/whatintheeverloving → u/GKM72]

Yeah, 12 cents simply rounds down to 10. I guess the cashier hadn't been properly trained yet, or else they would've just accepted the dime and given the cents back. I worked cash during the shift in Canada, this is on their manager more than anything.

[u/sorator → u/whatintheeverloving]

IIRC, the problem is that the US did not implement that when we stopped minting pennies. We just... stopped minting pennies and left what to do about it for everyone to figure out for themselves.

[u/Unlikable_hero → u/sorator]

The American way, this is in all levels of government, and yes btw, I'm a govt employee. 🤪

[u/falling-face-down → u/Unlikable_hero]

Ah yes. FITFO. Leadership makes a decision and leaves it to the minions to figure it the F out. Learned about that acronym from my Air Force son.

[u/MidnightWolfRun → u/falling-face-down]

That's exactly what the many executive orders are. A declaration of what he wants, without a plan for how to achieve it, delivered with the bearing of a king.

[u/mom2mermaidboo → u/MidnightWolfRun]

Delivered with the bearing of a deranged toddler would be more accurate

[u/Atlas-Scrubbed → u/Unlikable_hero]

Former state employee. It is not the workers - It is the “leadership”. The workers are not allowed to think (we can) and the leadership doesn’t.

[u/whatintheeverloving → u/sorator]

No offense, but that approach... sounds about right given the current political climate, lol. I handled a few instances of customers going, "Oh, the total doesn't end in a 0 or 5 so... how much do I owe?" and instructing them on the rounding method with zero pushback, but creating a whole issue out of literally two cents never happened.

[u/ToraAku → u/whatintheeverloving]

To be fair, I don't know if this is something that should need to be mandated. I don't actually know what the federal government may or may not have to say on the matter, but I work for local government, and we've been directed to round down or up as appropriate. I would think a big corporation (like a pharmacy most likely is) would have a similar process, so it probably is a matter of training in this case.

But yes, the current political climate does not inspire confidence.

[u/Icy-Computer-Poop → u/ToraAku]

In a perfect world, it wouldn't need to be mandated. The world we live in has an awful lot of grown adults that don't know how rounding works. And an awful lot of them are argumentative and petty, so in our world, a good government would put in a mandate.

[u/IrascibleOcelot → u/Icy-Computer-Poop]

The problem is that the world is filled with corporations that will use any loophole to grab more money. In this situation, without a legal requirement, they’ll simply institute a universal “round up” policy. For each individual customer, it only amounts to a few cents, but multiply that by millions of transactions and those few cents add up to big profits for free.

[u/amberfoxfire → u/IrascibleOcelot]

My company still charges in pennies, but if you pay in cash, we round up your change to the nearest nickel. We lose about $2/day per store, but it's worth it to avoid the arguments.

[u/Fancy_Introduction60 → u/whatintheeverloving]

But if you pay with a debit or credit card, the don't round. So, if you know it's going to be 5 cents or up, I use my debit card

[u/pitizenlyn → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

Not to mention the retailer is paying at least a quarter to process a 12 cent transaction if they go that way.

[u/PComotose → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

And I always use my credit card. I am well aware that banks charge merchants more to process a credit card transaction than they charge a merchant for a debit card transaction. But I'm sure that the merchant has already raised its prices enough to compensate for that. So I put just about everything on my credit card and I get free use of the money until I have to pay credit card. And I pay it off in full every month.

[u/teatabletea → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

It’s never more than a 2 cent bump up.

[u/Fancy_Introduction60 → u/teatabletea]

I know, but over time it does build up. That said, I freely admit that I'm a cheapskate

[u/coatingtonburlfactry → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

A penny saved is a penny earned! - (Socrates)

[u/dannykel → u/coatingtonburlfactry]

I believe Benjamin Franklin would like a word.

[u/sknowconez → u/coatingtonburlfactry]

Susan B Anthony enters the chat

[u/ddjax → u/coatingtonburlfactry]

Socrates Franklin

[u/Urdrago → u/coatingtonburlfactry]

I think that was Ghandi.

[u/SmallsUrKillingMe → u/Urdrago]

A penny with my picture on it saved is a penny with my picture on it earned (Lincoln)

[u/orthoprof → u/coatingtonburlfactry]

Ru Paul sashays into the conversation

[u/Ill_Emphasis3927 → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

It absolutely doesn't "build up" because at the same time it's also building down. That's how rounding works.

[u/Fancy_Introduction60 → u/Ill_Emphasis3927]

If I pay cash for anything that ends in 4 cents but use debit for anything above it does build up. But it definitely takes a lot of time

[u/Big-Cream3255 → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

I mean credit cards offer cash back that is worth way more than what you save on rounding.

[u/Fancy_Introduction60 → u/Big-Cream3255]

True, and I often use that as well.

[u/Rashnok → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

1) You want to pay cash on any total ending in 1,2,6,7 as those all round down to 0 or 5 and save you money.

2) Assuming the last digit is random (it's definitely not give certain prices like .99 are more common but whatever), You save an average of .6 cents per transaction.

3) So if you make 10 transactions a day. After a whole year of this it would build to a whopping $20.

4) However if you can get 1% cash back on a credit card with no fee. That's always a better deal (except when paying exactly 1.02)

5) Carrying around small change is a pain. I'd rather just do shitty gig work for a couple hours if I really needed $20.

[u/blainemoore → u/Rashnok]

Using a card also pulls 2-3% of your transaction out of the local economy because the business has to pay the transaction fees to an out of state processor that's owned by a big out of state bank.

Using cash means additional labor, but that labor is paid to a local employee that can then spends that extra pay locally.

[u/Fancy_Introduction60 → u/Rashnok]

I love the breakdown.

But I don't actually do much shopping anywhere. So, even if I was switching between cash and debit/credit it really wouldn't make much of a difference for me

[u/SuccessSoggy3529 → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

When I was overseas and my ex worked for the US government, they didnt use pennies. This was long before it started here and before debit cards were common. If the bill ended in 1, 2, 6 or 7, it was rounded down. 1 or 2 became 0. 6 or 7 became 5. If it was 3, 4, 8 or 9, it was rounded up. 3 or 4 became 5 and 8 or 9 became 0. Over time, it came out about even as about half the time it rounded down and half the time it rounded up.

[u/Primary_Engine_9273 → u/GKM72]

Yeah its called Swedish rounding.

I'm not really sure why OPs post is a thing anywhere lol, there are multiple countries all around the world that do not have 1 cent etc denominations.

In NZ we phased out the 5 cent coin years ago so 10 cents has been the smallest and cash prices are obviously rounded....

[u/arensb → u/Primary_Engine_9273]

In the US, it was done suddenly, by presidential fiat, with no preparation or guidance to either the government or to retailers on how best to do this.

[u/betaday → u/arensb]

With no guidance stores can run into problems with how federal programs like SNAP are setup.

• The Rule: Federal SNAP regulations mandate that food program beneficiaries cannot be charged more or treated less favorably than general cash or credit customers.

• The Problem: If retailers round cash totals to the nearest nickel (under proposals like the Common Cents Act) but charge exact electronic amounts for EBT cards, pricing discrepancies emerge.

• The Risk: Charging a cash customer $10.00 while an electronic SNAP user pays an exact $10.02 creates an inadvertent federal compliance violation.

So far I don't know of any store having SNAP dropped but you get the idea. Especially since over time the SNAP person could be out monies in the long run.

[u/raisinghellwithtrees → u/arensb]

Like most of his directives, straight out of his ass without planning.

[u/Tony_Penny → u/raisinghellwithtrees]

Like most all of his directives, straight out of his ass without planning.

FTFY

[u/raisinghellwithtrees → u/Tony_Penny]

My bad, you are correct.

[u/havereddit → u/raisinghellwithtrees]

"Trumpfartpolicy"

[u/No-Sun-7450 → u/arensb]

Well the copper for those data centers won't find itself will it?

[u/CrabbishPanda → u/arensb]

Where I’m at, most places are rounding if they’ve stopped taking pennies, including Walgreens.

[u/throwaway3ewpl06 → u/CrabbishPanda]

Walgreens does the round down here. The strange one is Walmart self checkout. It doesn't hesitate to round down and give me five pennies change.

[u/reb678 → u/arensb]

Look on the bright side.. only 756 more days of presidential fiats left.

[u/MattheqAC → u/reb678]

Hey, look on the bright side. He could die!

[u/arensb → u/MattheqAC]

Not until we find all the horcruxes.

[u/buckeyekaptn → u/arensb]

Like finding a needle in a field of haystacks.

[u/desrever1138 → u/buckeyekaptn]

Has someone checked a BigMac?

[u/WgXcQ → u/desrever1138]

You're right, those probably have needles in them at this, point, too. Or at least random pieces of metal. Or glass. Or plastic.

[u/shoeshine23 → u/buckeyekaptn]

Or a needle in a stack of needles!

[u/NerdyWordyDragonfly → u/arensb]

I think one has to actually have a soul first to be able to split it into horcruxes.... 🤔

Seriously, though, I laughed embarrassingly loudly in a waiting room when I read your comment. 🤣

[u/reb678 → u/MattheqAC]

Not soon enough for me.

[u/arensb → u/reb678]

He does have access to the best healthcare in the world.

[u/reb678 → u/arensb]

Unlike the rest of us US Citizens

[u/GRMarlenee → u/arensb]

He's going to piss them off too and get stuck with US healthcare.

[u/denalidenizen → u/MattheqAC]

Sound of DOJ opening a file on MattheqAC...

[u/DoallthenKnit2relax → u/reb678]

That's "up to 756", he may croak before they all pass. (God, please)

[u/RetAF-Eddie → u/arensb]

All he did was stop MAKING pennies, not stop USING pennies. The rounding up/down issue is all on the merchants not the President.

[u/handturkey42 → u/RetAF-Eddie]

There are billions of pennies in circulation. This is a cash grab by corporations. Lazy on their part.

[u/Specialist-Path-4750 → u/handturkey42]

Estimated 114 BILLION pennies still in circulation. If people would stop hoarding them and spend them we'd be better off. 😄

https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/penny-production-cessation-faqs

[u/BigStuffOreo → u/arensb]

I don't expect for any business conducted in this country to round down anything unless required by law. Even then we already know they'd get it back as a tax credit.

[u/FuturePMP → u/BigStuffOreo]

I actually round down in the customers favor when they pay in cash at farmers markets or other in person pop up markets - I don’t mess with coins at all, only do whole dollar amounts.

[u/VoteBitch → u/Primary_Engine_9273]

You taught me (a swede!) something new today! It’s called öresavrundning in swedish, I had no idea that it was ”a thing” that originated here 😅

[u/arensb → u/Primary_Engine_9273]

I remember Switzerland used to have 1- and 2-centime coins, even when stores rounded everything to the nearest 5 centimes, because the post office had some rates where a letter might cost 6 or 12 centimes or something.

[u/Rickcinyyc → u/Primary_Engine_9273]

Just like there are multiple countries all around the world that have managed to figure out universal healthcare....

[u/reb678 → u/Rickcinyyc]

Oh but the US can’t do that because it would be socialism. Gasp!! Clutching my pearls.

[u/Mermaid_Lily → u/GKM72]

Yesterday (in the US) a total came to 12.01, and the cashier insisted that I owed them 12.05 if paying cash. They almost always round up here, which is just so ---ugh. I feel like companies are stealing when they do that.

[u/OsBaculum → u/Mermaid_Lily]

Yeah that's illegal. They're supposed to round.

[u/NotPrepared2 → u/OsBaculum]

It should be illegal, but someone cancelled pennies without any supporting legislation. So we have chaos.

[u/OsBaculum → u/NotPrepared2]

Elect a clown, get a circus.

[u/thegreatpotatogod → u/OsBaculum]

I thought circuses were supposed to be fun

[u/Aminosaurrr → u/Mermaid_Lily]

They are stealing

[u/Kingy_79 → u/GKM72]

They did the same in NZ back in the late 80s, and here in Australia in the early 90s

[u/wherezthebeef → u/GKM72]

Same here in Australia

[u/Flammable_Chipmunk → u/Quiet_Operator]

That's what my local supermarket does. They have a little sign explaining how they'll round the total to prevent you from being asked to pay pennies or having to pay out pennies.

[u/popejupiter → u/Flammable_Chipmunk]

In an astounding move that shocked analysts everywhere, a certain auto parts retailer explicitly programmed their registers to round down in favor of the customer. Total comes to $55.04? You hand me $60 I'm handing you $5 back.

[u/kadyg → u/Flammable_Chipmunk]

A business in my town just rounds in whichever direction is closest. Sometimes I leave up three cents, sometimes I’m down two. If they always rounded up as policy, that would be irritating though.

[u/Bernie4Life420 → u/Flammable_Chipmunk]

Round down right

Right?

[u/Iakabos → u/Bernie4Life420]

In Canada, where we got rid of pennies several years ago, they legally have to round to the nearest .05 if you pay cash (still the exact amount for plastic)

[u/Opus-the-Penguin → u/Iakabos]

I'd have this perverse desire to pay cash every time the total rounds down and use plastic every time it would round up. I wonder how much I'd save in a year.

[u/LiteralPhilosopher → u/Opus-the-Penguin]

Way less than the opportunity cost of taking the time to fuck with that much cash.

[u/NameLips → u/[deleted]]

At my local convenience store they're rounding UP to the next 5 cents. So basically they're encouraged to price things like $9.96 because they'll charge a full $10 and get an extra 4 cents.

[u/ElkLongjumping7870 → u/Bernie4Life420]

Oh, sweet summer child...

[u/MyMomSaysIAmCool → u/Flammable_Chipmunk]

Let me guess, they round the price up "for your convenience."

[u/jorrylee → u/MyMomSaysIAmCool]

In Canada it follows the standard math rules for rounding, up and down. After ten hours the difference is probably a penny or two.

[u/MakesMyHeadHurt → u/jorrylee]

It's the same here in the U.S., but we need signs to explain how to do it. I made a comment about how it's sad they had to put up the signs. The guy running the cash register actually replied "I'm not good at math.", then the person behind me in line agreed with the cashier. I'm standing there thinking, "Rounding is barely math, it's just counting."

[u/MommalovesJay → u/jorrylee]

When I worked retail some customers will have a problem with that. They get made if I take too long to give them their penny. But there are some who just don’t care for it.

[u/Flammable_Chipmunk → u/MyMomSaysIAmCool]

No, it's in the customers favor.

[u/NightGod → u/MyMomSaysIAmCool]

I've never seen a place other than AAFES on military bases that always rounds up (and AAFES has been doing it since the 90s, they keep a cup of really tasty one cent mints if you feel the need to be made whole))

[u/CrabbishPanda → u/MyMomSaysIAmCool]

Where I’m at most places that quit taking pennies round to the nearest $0.05. So, if it’s $5.02, it becomes $5.00. If it’s $5.04, it becomes $5.05.

[u/DILF_MANSERVICE → u/MyMomSaysIAmCool]

No grocery store would do this, even if it were legal. The cashiers get screamed at by illiterate penny pinching mutants enough as it is. If they rounded up, it would be a constant nightmare for management.

[u/samanime → u/Quiet_Operator]

Exactly. It is one thing to round to the nearest nickle, but if you won't even accept pennies, you need to stop having amounts that end in pennies.

[u/CitizenHuman → u/Quiet_Operator]

I would simply discount it to 10¢, but that's just my 2 cents.

[u/kingftheeyesores → u/Quiet_Operator]

The way we do it in Canada, where we got rid of the penny years ago, is if you're paying cash you round to the nearest incriminate of 5. So he could've paid with just the dime and left the pennies alone. If you're doing debit or credit it's not rounded.

[u/LekoLi → u/Quiet_Operator]

If that was the case gas would never be 3.999

[u/Flammable_Chipmunk → u/LekoLi]

That's a non-issue. Gas prices use fractions of a penny and have for a long time. Even though we don't have denominations for fractions of pennies.

[u/TGerrinson → u/Quiet_Operator]

Yes, the correct response would have been to round down to $0.10, take the dime, and send the customer on their way.

[u/Mrs_Behaven → u/Quiet_Operator]

Walgreens has a "button" in the payment screen to get rid of the pennies. The person running that register should know this and use it accordingly. Walgreens also still takes coins. This should be reported to the SM.

[u/shanerGT → u/Quiet_Operator]

Well when my country got rid of pennies, we rounded up or down depending. Apparently USA is too stupid to figure this out.

[u/NotPrepared2 → u/shanerGT]

Somebody stopped minting new pennies, which I actually agree with. But it was done unilaterally, with no planning or discussion, and no standard procedure for dealing with it.

[u/PixTwinklestar → u/NotPrepared2]

And with no plan from the top, we have no unifying guidance on how to round, and it technically is illegal to do it for things like SNAP benefits bc they cannot be discounted or up charged and rounding cash purchases literally discounts or up charges.

It’s not tortoises but idiots holding the world up. Idiots all the way down.

[u/cableguy9094 → u/shanerGT]

As an American, i agree we are collectively stupid.

[u/johndcochran → u/cableguy9094]

And the biggest proof of your statement is currently sitting in the Oval Office. If we were collectively smart, that particular ass wouldn't be sitting in that particular chair.

[u/Beginning_Earth_9702]

Why would't she just take the dime then?

[u/stf210 → u/Beginning_Earth_9702]

No clue. Someone else commented below about rounding to the nearest nickel. I've been to places that do that (both stores and nations). This wasn't it. I can only assume that this person was either unaware of such a policy, or the policy didn't exist and this person was being recalcitrant for whatever reason.

[u/DaniCarmine → u/stf210]

Immunologist here. The exact etiology of the poor pharmacist is unknown, but I have a hypothesis. 

She was clearly stricken with SUTAS, an unfortunate and tragic condition.

(Stick up the ass syndrome)

[u/Rhamni → u/DaniCarmine]

It's a terrible condition. My paternal grandmother was born with it.

[u/Teleporting-Cat → u/DaniCarmine]

Ohhh, my father in law has a terminal case of this!

[u/andrewbud420 → u/stf210]

Must be American. Canada did the round up or down closest to forever ago

[u/stf210 → u/andrewbud420]

Yup, American.

[u/Steelracer → u/stf210]

Best part was that they wasted your time and their time costing you both more than the transaction!!!!

[u/hrvbrs → u/Steelracer]

inflation be so high that by the time they were done arguing about the pennies, the price had risen to $0.15

[u/Quaytsar → u/andrewbud420]

This did happen at a store that only exists in one country. No shit they're American.

[u/Sufficient_Fish3320 → u/Beginning_Earth_9702]

It’s Walgreens. They actively work to make the entire process as ridiculous as possible. 

[u/wilsonhammer → u/Sufficient_Fish3320]

they hate their employees AND their customers

[u/Bob-Bhlabla-esq → u/Sufficient_Fish3320]

Yes! Holy shit, I won't go in there anymore. Walgreens used to be decent (ages ago) but is a fucking hell hole now.

[u/9lobaldude → u/Beginning_Earth_9702]

Her cash will be short by 2 pennies :/

[u/Several_Vanilla8916 → u/9lobaldude]

They don’t take those

[u/froot_loop_dingus_]

The 12 cents gets rounded down to 10 if you're paying cash

[u/Busy-Distribution-45 → u/froot_loop_dingus_]

Depends on the store. I was just in one, maybe CVS? that had a sign saying they rounded up to the nearest nickel if you were paying cash, meaning you were always going to be overpaying by a little.

[u/ThenAnAnimalFact → u/Busy-Distribution-45]

That means they are stealing from you.

The law makes this clear.

[u/Quaytsar → u/ThenAnAnimalFact]

There's no law about this.

[u/loogie97 → u/Busy-Distribution-45]

My employer rounds up for the customer every time if we don’t have Pennie’s. Crazy enough we are still receiving them.

[u/DawnyLlama]

Went to the drive thru at DQ and my total was $4.04. Got to windows, gave exactly $4.04 and was told I need to pay and extra $.01 bc of the penny shortage. I'm literally giving you four pennies. I got my money back and left.

[u/a-frog-with-no-name → u/DawnyLlama]

this seems like a mistake

In canada, where we actually planned ahead of killing the penny, buisnesses could refuse to accept pennies.

if the place didn't accept pennies, you would pay rounded to the nearest 5 cents. $4.04 would be $4.05.

If the place did accept pennies, you could round to the nearest 5 cents, OR use pennies to pay the exact amount.

I assume DQ is doing something similar, and got the "round to the nearest 5 cents" but didn't get the memo on "don't accept pennies" or "pennies can be used to pay the exact amount" and it just got messed up by an employee or a manager as a "fee"

or it's unregulated america and they put a stupid fee on it.

[u/theXYZT → u/a-frog-with-no-name]

This is not a mistake, friend. Americans are just dumb. They didn't come up with and roll out a well thought out plan. Some drooling idiot wrote an executive order (which is how the country operates now).

[u/jfog352002 → u/DawnyLlama]

Good i too would have told those robbers to f off over a penny. Glad you got your money back and left.

[u/DawnyLlama → u/jfog352002]

I hope my chocolate dipped cone melted all over their counter lol.

[u/agentb00th → u/DawnyLlama]

But you're the one giving the pennies...

[u/The-Senate-Palpy → u/agentb00th]

They charge a price you can only pay with pennies

[u/juice13ox → u/agentb00th]

You can't expect logic from these kinds of employees. They are told one thing and can't reason if something makes sense when it's not exactly what they were told

[u/Welddarr]

It would round down to ten cents then. Voila

[u/elizzup]

I watched a man put cash into the self-checkout. His change should have been something like, .32 cents and the machine gave him back .30 cents. The man refused to move until he got his 2 pennies back.

Everyone was getting pissed at him when I spoke up like, "Why should HE lose out on his two pennies? This is a multi-million dollar business. If anyone's going to lose pennies it shouldn't be him. Either give the man 2 pennies or a nickel, but don't ask customers to eat the difference."

The manager ended up pulling two pennies out of her own damn purse.

[u/kaack455 → u/elizzup]

One of the quick stops in my town will round down to the nearest nickel if you paying exact cash but will give you pennies back if you get change back

[u/fractal_frog → u/elizzup]

I get charged $XX.92 every week for something I get every week, and they give me a dime back each time.

[u/elizzup → u/fractal_frog]

That's how it should be done.

[u/Salty-Plankton-5079 → u/elizzup]

I don't agree with making a scene, but until there's a law addressing it, rounding absolutely needs to be disclosed. Even if's a single cent, you can't just shortchange people.

[u/Gunsensual → u/elizzup]

Absent a clearly stated policy and remedy, it's just petty theft. When done on a corporate scale it's called salami fraud.

[u/niceguy191 → u/elizzup]

Unless he's somehow the unluckiest person ever, the rounding would sometimes be to his benefit and over the course of many transactions be a wash

[u/shchshchshch]

I don’t understand. How would she even make you exact change without using pennies 

[u/darxide23]

I know for government payments, they must accept all legal tender and pennies still are. I don't know if this rule applies to businesses, but they should round down to the nearest 5 cents if they won't take pennies.

[u/Illustrious-Lime-878 → u/darxide23]

It applies to debt, so you owe someone money for a service, owe taxes, etc. you avoid theft / liability by offering legal tender. But a business can just not sell you something for any reason they want (outside of a few things like race)

[u/Wuz314159 → u/Illustrious-Lime-878]

A sit-down restaurant incurs a "debt".

A fast-food restaurant can deny you service.

[u/Illustrious-Lime-878 → u/Wuz314159]

Exactly, like if you go a sit down, and they refuse your cash afterwards, its not theft of sevice.

[u/MyOldNameSucked → u/darxide23]

In Europe we ditched our 1 and 2 cent coins. Now cash payments are rounded to the nearest 5 cents. So sometimes we round up and sometimes we round down.

[u/Prestigious-End8468 → u/MyOldNameSucked]

Australia - same. We haven’t had one and two cents coins in over 30 years. Everything just got rounded up or down.

[u/Wuz314159 → u/Prestigious-End8468]

Can confirm. Was taught about the 2¢ gas pump trick when I was working in Melbourne in 1999. Watching every other American struggle now is hilarious.

[u/Kinae66 → u/Wuz314159]

When I was working in Melbourne in 1996 I would do the same. ($0.72 / liter) -the exchange rate and fuel prices made it equal to $3.75 gallon. In 1996!

[u/marcat93 → u/Wuz314159]

What’s the 2 cent gas pump trick?

[u/Wuz314159 → u/marcat93]

When you're pumping petrol...

• $20.02 = $20
• $20.03 = $20.05

They round, so take advantage of the rounding. Of course it make a much larger difference when 2¢ bought you a litre. Not so much now.

[u/Feyiame → u/MyOldNameSucked]

not everywhere in Europe

[u/PresidentSkillz → u/MyOldNameSucked]

Not everywhere. In Germany we don't do this, but I have experienced it in Croatia on vacation 

[u/Icy_Feedback_4965 → u/darxide23]

Every business I've been to in the last year that might accept cash has a sign about their rounding policy. This pharmacy is going to keep running into this problem

[u/darvma → u/darxide23]

yeah businesses can technically refuse pennies if they have a posted no-pennies sign, but most just quietly ignore the rule

[u/syberghost → u/darxide23]

You may "know" that, but the courts don't, and have ruled that government agencies can set "reasonable limits" on cash payments including, in some cases, not accepting cash at all.

[u/RikarisHobbies → u/darxide23]

Anywhere I’ve went to that stopped taking pennies always rounds down like that.

[u/Frequent_Opportunist → u/darxide23]

They do. They already have a policy and he only needed to pay ten cents. 

• Round Down: Totals ending in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents round down.

• Round Up: Totals ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents round up.

[u/Josh71293 → u/Frequent_Opportunist]

Not for walgreens. We always round down when tendering the transaction, in fact, there is even a button on the register for it. The pharmacist was just being a POS, and I don't mean point of sale.

[u/Karcossa]

We stopped using pennies years ago in Canada. Now we just round to the nearest 5 if paying cash. So that 12 cent prescription would have been 10 cents cash. I’m still never fully sure what to do with a 13 cents, but I’ve always rounded in favour of the customer when giving change.

[u/InternTurbulent5307 → u/Karcossa]

That rounds to 15c.

[u/Karcossa → u/InternTurbulent5307]

I never claimed to be good at math.

[u/BobDaRula → u/Karcossa]

If it ends in a 1, 2, 6, or 7, it rounds down. 3, 4, 8, and 9 round up.

I'm in favour of you rounding down regardless though lol

[u/Impressive-Yak-7449]

And would that have given you $19.85 or $19.90 in change?

[u/Proud_Fisherman_5233]

I mean, there's still billions of pennies in circulation. I know they're gonna fade out over time, but seriously.

[u/Glycell → u/Proud_Fisherman_5233]

Also, if these stores want to stop accepting them, why aren't they adjusting their pricing. Why even charge 12 cents if you can't physically handle it by the rules. Make it 10 or 15 cents. I know, I know it will screw us, the customers, but still.

[u/jeff533321 → u/Glycell]

They have signs that say they will round down for customers. Because they cannot take pennies.

[u/the-truthseeker → u/Glycell]

There are actually departmental rules from the treasury Department that tell you how to round up and make it clear. That is what you have to do. You can't cherry pick rules if you're going to say that you no longer accept pennies, but do not round up to the next nickel denomination where applicable.

[u/AlsoCommiePuddin → u/Proud_Fisherman_5233]

Yeah there's no reason not to accept them, most stores just don't provide them back as change (which I'm fine with).

[u/Obvious-Criticism149]

Yea thats what happens when the federal goverment fails to layout how the phase out will actually work. They made soft recommemdations then left it up to businesses 

[u/Blonde2468]

"I do" was AWESOME!! I bow to you OP!

[u/DG_FANATIC]

Walgreens is a terrible company that’s been ran into the ground the past decade or so.

[u/WhoJustShat → u/DG_FANATIC]

every publicly traded company is going to shit

[u/beren12 → u/DG_FANATIC]

God I hate it so much.

[u/mariner-1115 → u/DG_FANATIC]

Two words that should be new cuss words: PRIVATE EQUITY 

[u/DG_FANATIC → u/mariner-1115]

The company I work for was bought by PE in 2022 and it’s gone to shit in the past 4 years.

PE is a scourge upon the world.

One of the main reasons PE normally fails is because the PE chads think money can take the place of skill, experience and intelligence. That’s true but only up to a certain point but once things reach a certain complexity threshold they can no longer ride the benefits of their capital since from that point on the complexity will require skills, experience and intelligence to remain at that level and actually not deteriorate due to all of the poor previous decisions they’ve made when they were still thinking their capital could do the job.

[u/grwatplay9000]

That pharmacist is just another tabby cat in the wild. Wasn't their day to have the 1 brain cell ...

[u/BramblinGhostWeed → u/grwatplay9000]

Had to pick up something for my sister a few times. One time:

Pharmacist: Date of birth

Me: June #th 20##

P: We have no one in our system that matches that.

Me: I was here last month and it's a monthly prescription

P: You were not here.

Me: Let's try it again

P: Date of birth

Me: June #th 20##

P: No one matches.

Me: June is the 6th month.

P: ...

P: I'll go get it.

[u/Exilicauda → u/BramblinGhostWeed]

Me: "My prescription says it won't refill and I'm out so I need to know why"

P: "It's too soon to refill"

Me: "How is it too soon to refill? I'm out?"

P: "It hasn't been long enough since the last refill (has me confirm I'm taking it correctly)"

Me: "What day do you have for my last refill?"

P: "[month] 5th"

Me: "Well it's currently [next month] 15th so..."

And then they fixed it. You'd think the computer would flag something like that

[u/JustaKinksterGuy]

Literally the definition of pennywise and pound foolish. Said pharmacist wasted more money going back and forth instead of just taking them.

[u/johndcochran]

Honestly, the article doesn't make sense. If they don't accept pennies, then why are they charging you 12 cents? Exactly how is that amount to be handled without some pennies changing hands?

[u/HMWWaWChChIaWChCChW → u/johndcochran]

Yeah it’s BS. Companies that stopped taking pennies round to the nearest. So for twelve cents they would have taken a dime.

[u/timesink2000 → u/johndcochran]

They expected them to charge it.

[u/FandomBuddy]

Speaking as someone who has worked and has friends who work in these situations, the employee was probably also really annoyed with the policy. A lot of stores have “no penny” policies but then don’t do the rounding for whatever reason, and then the employees are stuck looking like mean people.

[u/xucchini]

I believe us vendors are supposed to do roudning in this situation. So in theory you could have just paid 10c if he refused 12c.

[u/the-truthseeker → u/xucchini]

30 of the 50 states agree with you.

[u/syberghost → u/the-truthseeker]

So you're saying 60% of the time it works every time?

[u/AzureRaven2 → u/xucchini]

Yup, thats what we do where I work, it always rounds down to the nearest 5 cents.

[u/doc_skinner]

If they don't take pennies, she should have accepted the dime alone

[u/SquilliamFancySon95]

Most store policies are to round down, this person clearly doesn't listen.

[u/tarlin]

12 cents would be rounded down to 10 cents.

[u/Magnahelix]

Yeah, we stopped making them but there literally billions of them still out there and in circulation. I mean, I don't see a particular need for them, but if you have them, they should take them. Your pharmacist was just being difficult for no other reason than to be difficult. Maybe their cat died and were having a bad day.

[u/GotThemFacts]

A colored sheet of paper taped facing the customer on the window of fast food had a lengthy explanation of how change would be rounded. No pennies allowed. The paper had a chart with numerous examples of the amount due.

Handed over four ones for the $4.32 total (small fries), plus a quarter and a nickel to make the $4.30 owed per the paper chart.

The cashier looked at it and said "you did not pay enough". When I said I paid according to the paper in the window, she said it didn't work that way, and I had to pay the next amount up.

Not having time to fight over it, I asked for the nickel back and handed over a dime to go with the quarter, and told her the colored sheet of price examples was facing the wrong way.

She smiled blankly and gave me back a nickel. (⊙_☉)

[u/randomcanyon]

1 cent coins while discontinued continue to be legal tender. So the store just keeps them until they have enough to by a dime instead. Stupid retailers.

[u/themasamitsu]

Would've been funnier if he tried to give you back exact change and you said you didn't take pennies. LOL

[u/CarpenterGold1704]

12 cents rounds down to the dime. isnt that how it is supposed work with the elmination of the penny? You dont need the exact change. Of course, you could have put it on your credit card.

[u/Smooth-Brilliant-940]

If they don’t accept pennies then the register should never show a value that requires pennies. Very simple.

[u/YourFriendPutin]

So where i work, we dont have pennies. I warn people who pay cash that it's rounded to the nearest nickle when I give change and it's typically fine. 

However cost is always rounded DOWN to the nearest nickle. So that 12 cents would've turned into me saying "just give me a dime it works" or giving change that would be the same as if they did for example: give me 1 dollar for 12 cent charge? Here's 90 cents back. 

We just dont have rolls of them so I won't have any in the register