When penny becomes obsolete

[Mike Schwartz (PC Support)]

> Well we got rid of 1 and 2 cent pieces here in Australia back in 1992,
> the last mint of the coins was actually 1990 and 1989 respectively,
> because they cost to much to make.  Back then there was still a lot of
> cash transactions and the government mandated rounding 1 & 2 cent totals
> down and 3 and 4 cent totals up.  Only the total could be rounded, not
> each item.  That was a fun time making changes to customers system who
> took cash and accounting for the rounding in the financials.
> 
> Ken

     Any time there is rounding, there's room for shenanigans.  Many years
ago, I recall the Cobol programmer at a bank who flipped all the pennies
from mortgage calculations into his account when they were supposed to go to
the customer, but when the rounded cent went to the bank, he gave it to the
bank. The auditors checked that the bank was getting its cent, but never
checked to make sure the customer was getting their cent, and I guess none
of the customers ever calculated their payments that closely, because none
of them complained.  

Mike