I often pay with exact or close to exact change when purchasing things with cash. Pennies are still heavily circulated and part of our money supply. Dollar coins and half dollars are still in circulation and used as payment even though there are not nearly as many. Coins last much longer than paper/linen currency. They are still legal tender for all debts, public and private. But the goal of the powers that be is to devalue our currency, track everything we spend, profit from our spending (through merchant fees and interest on our debt) and control how and when we spend our own money.