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Business & Tech

Bike Shop Decides Pennies Don't Make Sense

Mike's Bikes' practice of rounding to the customer's benefit well received by customers, if they notice.

They cost more than they are worth, are made of material that can be toxic, and everyone seems to have a pile of them at home somewhere they aren’t sure what to do with. Elimination of the penny has been debated for years, but we just can’t seem to let go.

While the US government hasn’t been willing to, one Berkeley business, along with its eight sibling stores, has bid the penny adieu. Using the catchy slogan “Pennies Don’t Make Cents,” at the upper tip of University Avenue has adopted the practice of rounding.

Mike’s Bikes no longer hands out or collects pennies, rounding to the nearest nickel in the customer’s favor where cash is concerned. And federal legislators take note: It’s no big deal.

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The decision was made by owner Ken Martin, according to Kristie Hamilton, manager of the Berkeley store. The reasons are outlined on the firm’s website, primarily that mining zinc is harmful to the Earth, that it’s a waste of taxpayer money to spend 1.79 cents to make a coin worth 1 cent, and they’re a waste of time. In fact, argues the website, it isn’t even worth minimum wage to pick them up off the ground.

“The average American wastes 12 hours a year handling pennies,“ the webpage argues. “The National Association of Convenience Stores and Walgreens estimate that handling pennies adds 2 to 2.5 seconds per cash transaction.”

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The policy has been in place officially about a month, though employee Barry Grosfield says he’s always done it. Most people, he says, don’t notice.

Hamilton agrees that customers often don’t notice despite small signs about the new policy posted at the cash registers. More than half the transactions are by credit card, which aren’t affected, and she says most cash customers don’t scrutinize their change down to the cent. If she says something overt like “$20.51, oh $20.50” the customer might ask why. When she explains they’ll say something like, “Oh, cool.”

“There hasn’t been anything negative,” she says.

Customer Rachel Marullo of Oakland said it wouldn’t impact her at Mike’s because she uses plastic there but it might be strange at a grocery store because pennies are, after all, legal currency. But when it was explained that the rounding always goes in the customer’s favor, she agreed it was a great idea. “The government should take them all away.”

Travers Anderson of Oakland, who was with Marullo in the store, said it’s a great idea. When he lived in Australia in 1994, he said, “They didn’t have pennies and nobody cared.” Australia and several other countries round to the nearest 5 cents (or whatever the smallest coin is in that country) rather than always favoring the customer.

The vacated slot in the cash register at Mike’s Bikes is not going to waste. It has been given over to $1 coins, which Hamilton says are popular with customers and can be used in Berkeley’s parking meters, which pennies cannot.

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