Can we all agree to at least retire the Penny?

[BvillePoker]

I am in favor of retiring the penny. Studies have shown that rounding pricing to the nearest $0.05 would actually benefit the consumer. Estimates say it could save the country hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Oh and I also favor changing the $1.00 to a coin instead of a bill.

 

[Bitter Creek]

yep... i'm in

 

[windriverrange]

yes am in.... and the parasitic politicians would just find something else to waste that "saved money" on.

 

[ThorOdinson13]

sure, why not

 

[Marshal Jim Duncan]

The idea that rounding the price to the nearest .05 would actually benefit the consumer is laugh out loud amusing.

 

[BvillePoker]

I have never claimed to have much knowledge about finance and such, but a guy named Robert Whaples who seems to have some pretty good finance knowledge published in the Eastern Economic Journal claiming that in a study of 200,000 transactions from a convenience store chain that the consumer gained 1/40 of a cent per transaction. Extrapolate that very small sample to the trillions of transactions by consumers and it seems like that could add up to some pretty good coin.

 

[Marshal Jim Duncan]

In your experience with business is this the way most pricing decisions go?

 

[BvillePoker]

In my experience with retail I learned that $1.99 created higher volume of sales than did $2.00. I learned that the increase of price by a few cents never offset the loss in volume. I also learned the the phsycology of consumers makes them more willing to purchase something at $19.99 than they were willing to purchase for $20.00. Walmart has made a killing off of this consumer phsycology school of thought knowing that volume is the key rather than per unit profits.

 

[anon_xl72qcu5isp39]

I've come around to it. When people literally leave them on the ground instead of picking them up..... it's time to quit spending money making them.

 

[Marshal Jim Duncan]

In my experience with retail I learned that $1.99 created higher volume of sales than did $2.00. I learned that the increase of price by a few cents never offset the loss in volume. I also learned the the phsycology of consumers makes them more willing to purchase something at $19.99 than they were willing to purchase for $20.00. Walmart has made a killing off of this consumer phsycology school of thought knowing that volume is the key rather than per unit profits.

Right, but that really has nothing to do with the question at hand, does it ?

 

[BvillePoker]

Right, but that really has nothing to do with the question at hand, does it ?

Uhhhh... it was the response to the question you posed. So what is the question at hand that your question had nothing to do with?

 

[imprimis]

Dollar coin? We've been down that road numerous times. We had the silver dollar and it's no longer around. Then there was the Eisenhower dollar and it lasted about 6 years. Lastly, was the Susan B. Anthony dollar but the morons who designed it chose to make it virtually the same size and weight of a quarter. How much money have we wasted on these coins? Looks like the public has expressed their lack of interest in these.

 

[BvillePoker]

I think it would be a different story if you eleminated the bill at the same time you introduced the coin.

 

[Marshal Jim Duncan]

Uhhhh... it was the response to the question you posed. So what is the question at hand that your question had nothing to do with?

No it really wasn't. And if you think Wal Mart isn't concerned with per unit profits, you're crazy. Go ask any small business owner who is or has been a vendor for Wal Mart. They are constantly pressuring their vendors to drive down the cost of goods.

Back to the point -- whether something sells better at $1.99 vs. $2.00 today is irrelevant in a world in whcih all prices are denominated in increments of .05. If something currently sells for $1.82, do you really think that the majority of companies will change that price to $1.80, rather than $1.85?

 

[BvillePoker]

No it really wasn't. And if you think Wal Mart isn't concerned with per unit profits, you're crazy. Go ask any small business owner who is or has been a vendor for Wal Mart. They are constantly pressuring their vendors to drive down the cost of goods.

Back to the point -- whether something sells better at $1.99 vs. $2.00 today is irrelevant in a world in whcih all prices are denominated in increments of .05. If something currently sells for $1.82, do you really think that the majority of companies will change that price to $1.80, rather than $1.85?

Yes I think the majority of them will. Especially high volume big box retailers.

 

[Marshal Jim Duncan]

Why don't they just lower the price now then?

 

[BvillePoker]

They do. They are just not forced to do it to the $0.05 increment. When Wamart, Target, BestBuy, etc see lower sales volumes what do they do? Do they raise prices?

 

[Marshal Jim Duncan]

Again, you're off topic.

 

[BvillePoker]

Seriously? Everytime I answer a question that you asked you are going to tell me I am off topic. I beginning to get the feeling that I am just being trolled.