• Maeve@kbin.earth
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      14 hours ago

      But penny-pinchers beware: as businesses start rounding up prices, the move is expected to raise costs for shoppers. One study by researchers at the Richmond Federal Reserve estimated that could cost consumers $6m annually.

      • AmbitiousProcess (they/them)@piefed.social
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        11 hours ago

        …or when divided by the population (currently 342 million), under 2 cents per person.

        In the US attention has now turned to the nickel, which has a face value of five cents but costs nearly 14 cents to produce. Retiring that coin would have a far bigger impact on shoppers, costing consumers some $55m per year, according to the Richmond Fed study.

        …or about $0.16/person.

        In exchange, everyone gets to:

        • Carry around less change
        • Spend less time waiting for change or behind people getting change at the register
        • Pay for things with coins easier

        However, nickels only result in an annual loss of about $17.7m/year right now, so economically it would still be a net-loss, dollar-value wise.