Originally Posted by
Brontosaurus
In a local liquor store for me back in the States, everything is marked $6.99, $9.99 on up, etc. So let's say I buy a bottle of wine marked $9.99. I give the clerk a ten-dollar bill and he doesn't hand back a penny "as a courtesy" so as not to burden me with something that won't buy a thing. But this really bugs me and I always insist on the penny, saying, "If you're not going to give it back as a rule or 'as a courtesy,' then you should be pricing the bottle at ten dollars even and not $9.99!"
In France, I remember when the franc was the legal tender. Every price was flat, 10 francs, 100 francs, etc., and I really appreciated it. Then came the euro. At first, the prices were flat as before, 10 euros, 100 euros, etc., and to a certain extent they still are in comparison to the way prices are given in the States. But more and more, there is the 9,95, 99,99, etc. creep moving in. Wonder why that is, and why it coincides with a money system scaled more closely to the US dollar.