it seems ridiculous to mint a coin that costs more than three times its actual worth (although apparently nickels cost 14 cents to make?). And it would certainly make the math easier to have prices ending in 5 or 0. BUT...I also agree with this statement from the article...
"If there's one thing most economists agree on is that private business has a profit motive. So, the assumption would be that they would price things in a way that they would round up, not round down," Weller said.
As The_Cat_Did_It so wisely pointed out, small amounts can quickly add up to big money. If I'm now paying a few cents more on literally everything, that could be bad for my budget at the end of the year.
I know what you mean about those huge coin-filled jugs some people have in their houses; my sis and BIL had one for years (and might still have one). As for the penny shortage, well, we're (somewhat) contributing to that <g>. Back in first grade, one of our art projects at school was a Pringles can turned into a "piggy" bank. We washed them out, covered them in scraps of wallpaper, shellacked the wallpaper and then had the teacher cut out slots in the plastic lid for the insertion of coins. Dad still has this "treasure" sitting on his dresser, and we both periodically stick pennies in it when we find we have extra in our wallets (we both still like to pay cash for as many items as possible). Dad rarely lets it get more than 1/3 full before he rolls the coins and takes them to the bank to exchange for dollar bills, but he still usually comes back with 3 or 4 dollars, which would be 300-400 pennies. Sorry, America!
