As seen at my local grocery store this morning at every check-out...

[aggiesal]

39. In Germany, they got rid of the pfenning (the equivalent of the U.S. penny). Here's how they did it ...

When they price any product, they usually mark the total price with tax included.
For example, they price something at 20 DM, when you pay, it costs 20 DM.
When you get the receipt, it breaks down the cost: Price of product 16.95 DM, VAT (18%) 3.05 DM

Why can't we do that here. The price you see, is the price you pay. There wouldn't be a need for pennies at that point
The cash registers are all computerized, so it's pretty easy to break down the total price.
Besides, cashiers now days don't know how to count back change, they just give you what the computerized cash register tells them what the change is, and then, they usually throw it at you (Not really, but it feels that way because they're handing you your change, while their scanning the first product for the next customer, & stop calling us customers, guests.)

Europeans, hate it when they book hotels here in the U.S. at a daily room rate, they budget based on the rate.
But when they checkout, the rate is like 25% (example) higher with all the taxes (State, Local) + tourist fees (which usually means the tourists are paying for some community project like Civic Center, Convention Center or Stadium).

Sorry about the last half being a rant.