CHICAGO — Dump out the coffee cans, car ashtrays and the bottom of your purse. The lowly penny, which almost was taken out of circulation three years ago, is making a comeback as the recession puts a crimp in back-to-school sales.

Spiral notebooks, batteries, markers, crayons, pencils and even some clothing are just a few of the items going for 1 cent these days. The gimmick, which seems as old as the penny, is gaining traction as merchants try to attract penny-pinching consumers.

"You're playing into the consumer psyche, which is already delicate as it is," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, a market research firm. "Buy one, get one free has been around so long, it doesn't even make a noise. Buy one, get one for a penny feels like a deal."

The penny bargains come as back-to-school selling is expected to be grim.

Back-to-school shopping typically spans July, August and early September. It's the retail industry's second-biggest revenue period, after the holiday season.

And many analysts consider it a harbinger of holiday sales.

With households putting off all but the most essential purchases until after school begins, the race to grab shoppers' attention is intense.

Staples Inc. and OfficeMax Inc. have led the charge with penny promotions that change weekly. So far, OfficeMax has done it for highlighters, crayons, sharpeners, paper folders and spiral notebooks. Staples has offered pencils, printer paper, lined filler paper and spiral notebooks.

The office-supply chain stores, which count back-to-school as their biggest selling season, have latched onto penny promotions as drugstores and dollar stores expand onto their turf.

"Retailers are trying to stimulate demand," said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at Retail Systems Research LLC, a Miami-based retail consulting firm. "This is about getting people into the store. If you also end up buying ink refill for your printer, the retailer has made back the money."

The problem for retailers is that shoppers have become so savvy about prices that taking a loss on one item to make it back on others is getting to be a risky strategy, Rosenblum said.

Shopper Kyriaki Dominguez said penny deals get her in the door, but she won't spend on other items if she knows she can get them cheaper elsewhere.

School shopping with her son at a Target in Chicago last week, Dominguez refused to buy the pencil refills on her son's school supply list because the price was $4.72. She remembered seeing two packs of pencil refills for $6 at Staples.

"For school shopping, I go from Staples to OfficeMax to Target to see who has the best deals," said Dominguez, a mother of three school-age children. "You have to bounce around and grab what's on sale."

Even teen-clothing store Wet Seal has offered consumers the chance to buy one clearance clothing item and get another for a penny. There is little new in fashion this year, giving teens scant motivation to restock their closets, said NPD's Cohen.

British department store Marks & Spencer held a Penny Bazaar at hundreds of its stores in May, selling 2 million products for a penny each. Cici's Pizza, a buffet chain from Texas, dropped 1 million pennies on the floors of its 650 restaurants in March, asking customers to pick up a penny and see if they'd won a free pizza.

"Everybody is still pinching pennies," said Bob Thacker, senior vice president of marketing at Naperville-based OfficeMax, noting that while some economists are declaring the recession over, consumers aren't behaving that way.

"People are still playing it very, very safe. It's a little bit like coming outside after a tornado comes through. You're not going to fire up the grill and start having a barbecue."