Abolish the Penny
Finally, William Safire and I agree about something. The man who has spent months attempting to persuade us all that everything is wonderful in Iraq finally takes a break today to say something that makes sense: It's high time we stop making pennies. I don't know if his inspiration was a West Wing rerun or a bad experience in line at 7/11; either way, he's right about several things, including these two: (1) We'd save a great deal of time if we didn't have to wait in line behind people fishing their pockets and purses for pennies, and (2) We'd save a great deal of money when all the prices set a penny below the dollar ($9.99 and the like) dropped to a nickel below the dollar ($9.95 and such).
Of course, I view the elimination of the penny as a stopgap on the path toward a cashless society, which I hope I live to see. But all great change starts small--except the penny, which used to be worth a piece of gum and today isn't worth much of anything. It's time to change our change.
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Since I've never met a new tax I didn't like, I'd like to agree with you, Mark. But retailers set their prices below the dollar to attract customers; the money they'd get by making it $10 instead of $9.95 wouldn't fund any new programs. It would just add a little bit to the bottom line of retailers--apparently not enough to justify raising the price, since you still see plenty of stuff sold below the dollar. Silly as it is, it's evidently a good marketing tool.
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