Yes, I've read this in a Bill Bryson book. I'm fairly certain it is from Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson on the basis this is the only Bill Bryson book that I've read.
Anyhow, this pricing convention has many purposes. Firstly, customers expect change. Social convention bewtween staff and customers enforces some honesty from staff. Next, some business systems work in dollars, some work in cents. Your system may work in dollars because that is logical. Your system may work in cents to avoid rounding error. The non-zero digits act as placeholders and reduce the possibility of products being listed at 1/100th of their value. This also applies to data entry. It also allows products to be advertised as "less than $10" when it is only by five cents.
Now it appears that it serves a fourth purpose. Specifically, the extra digits make you think that the price is more reasonable and only makes you consider smaller variations in value.
Anyhow, this pricing convention has many purposes. Firstly, customers expect change. Social convention bewtween staff and customers enforces some honesty from staff. Next, some business systems work in dollars, some work in cents. Your system may work in dollars because that is logical. Your system may work in cents to avoid rounding error. The non-zero digits act as placeholders and reduce the possibility of products being listed at 1/100th of their value. This also applies to data entry. It also allows products to be advertised as "less than $10" when it is only by five cents.
Now it appears that it serves a fourth purpose. Specifically, the extra digits make you think that the price is more reasonable and only makes you consider smaller variations in value.