LogFAQs > #977258347

Zareth posted...

You're not fooling anyone, it's a fucking dollar. Just say it's $5, way quicker to write than $4.99.

Science has repeatedly shown that you are literally fooling everyone.

Even if only subconsciously, your brain absolutely processes $4.99 as a significantly better value than $5. The first number you read helps prime your perception.

There've been a lot of studies done on this. Which why it's so prevalent.



BoomerKuwanger posted...

There just shouldn't be pennies at all, some other countries have figured this out but America as usual is like eh whatever

The problem is you need to round off, and no one on either side of the deal wants to be the person who "loses" from the rounding I don't want to pay a few cents more on every single transaction, businesses don't want to lose a few cents on every transaction, and it's the government that's forced to eat the cost on making pennies so no one cares (even if, ultimately, our taxes are paying for it). Americans are probably one of the most economically/consumer-obsessed cultures on Earth, it's not a shock that we'd be the most resistant to that sort of change.

In theory digital commerce completely obviates the problem, but as long as people still want physical currency you'll always have the problem.