Should the US stop using the penny?

[JB in TV]

I don't like pennies, and know that it costs the US mint more than the value (1 cent) to manufacture the penny. What do you folks think?

[LI SNOWBIRD]

i don't like pennies, and know that it costs the us mint more than the value (1 cent) to manufacture the penny. What do you folks think?

yes

[renrod]

I don't like pennies, and know that it costs the US mint more than the value (1 cent) to manufacture the penny. What do you folks think?
The penny is a perfect example of how dysfunctional the Government is. It costs .016 to manufacture the penny. Congress should do something productive, and have them made of plastic. NOT in favor of elimination.

[Taltarzac725]

The Economist explains: Why has Canada killed off the penny? | The Economist (http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2013/02/economist-explains-why-canada-killed-penny)

I agree though with renrod that they should make the penny out of a cheaper material. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/us-mint-testing-new-metal_0_n_2338127.html

[JB in TV]

The penny is a perfect example of how dysfunctional the Government is. It costs .016 to manufacture the penny. Congress should do something productive, and have them made of plastic. NOT in favor of elimination.

Why are you not in favor of eliminating the penny? Any purchase can be rounded up or down, and the net to the business or customer would be neutral over time.

In the article linked by Taltarzac725, it states that it costs the US 2.4 cents to produce a penny.

[JB in TV]

Would making it plastic reduce its life span?

[under55]

What if we did away with all cash? I know we would still have credit card fraud and cyber crimes. But look at the other crime that would probably almost vanish.

[baustgen]

Get rid of the penny and the paper dollar bill. Replace both with a small silver dollar coin the same size. Lots of problems solved.

[JourneyOfLife]

Since we are increasingly buying and selling electronically (debit card, credit card, etc)... it would not yield the benefit you think it would.

[KayakerNC]

I think it will happen. The only question is "When?".

[DougB]

If they eliminated the penny, how would we all be able to throw our two cents into this thread? I don't have any thoughts worth a nickel.

[ijusluvit]

If they eliminated the penny, how would we all be able to throw our two cents into this thread? I don't have any thoughts worth a nickel.


You could keep sharing your thoughts. Just think how good you will feel when somebody finally thinks one is good enough to round up to a nickel.

[Bavarian]

How about making smaller pennies like Euro Cent.

[jebartle]

when value of penny is less than it cost to make, absolutely no need for penny any more!

[JourneyOfLife]

People think about this issues on a personal basis... the change they get or an item they buy. That is too narrow.

Certain types of products and services use pennies and even factions of them as a denomination for a certain amount of product... on a large basis.

It is buried in every system (electronic or otherwise) that deals with money around the world.

If the government did decide to stop minting pennies, it would still exist electronically.

It will be around longer than any of us (boomers).

[JB in TV]

People think about this issues on a personal basis... the change they get or an item they buy. That is too narrow.

Certain types of products and services use pennies and even factions of them as a denomination for a certain amount of product... on a large basis.

It is buried in every system (electronic or otherwise) that deals with money around the world.

If the government did decide to stop minting pennies, it would still exist electronically.

It will be around longer than any of us (boomers).
I agree with you...I am referring to the use of the coin known as the penny.

[Villages PL]

I say keep the penny. It's an American tradition, just like Thanksgiving. We don't need Thanksgiving but we keep it because it's a tradition.

Merchants like to price their goods at .99, 1.99 2.99, 3.99 etc. and they wouldn't be able to do that anymore. :cryin2:

If you get rid of pennies, nickels would become the new pennies and we would soon be complaining about the uselessness of nickels. People would say that we should round everything off to the nearest dime. Then the nearest quarter and so forth.

Here's an idea for those who don't like pennies: Don't use them. If the store clerk asks you for $3.66, you pay $3.70 and say, "keep the change". Or hand over $4 and ask for 30 cents change.

[TrudyM]

Get rid of the penny and the paper dollar bill. Replace both with a small silver dollar coin the same size. Lots of problems solved.

We really should the $1 bill doesn't last long in circulation and destroying and printing is expensive a small $1 coin would make sense and if you eliminate the penny the slots in the cash registers would still have enough.
Other countries have done this why are we so resistant.

Think of how valuable all those penny collections we had as kids will become.

[Villageshooter]

We must keep it how would we solve the problems when you put a penny in the fuse box. To keep the The fuse from blowing

[TrudyM]

We must keep it how would we solve the problems when you put a penny in the fuse box. To keep the The fuse from blowing

House needs a rewire

[skyguy79]

If they do away with the penny, at least I'll be able to make more money on my thoughts when someone asks for them! :$:

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Does anyone care if an item is priced at $19.96 or $19.97 or $19.98 as opposed to $20.00?

Answer that and you have your answer.

[2BNTV]

Does anyone care if an item is priced at $19.96 or $19.97 or $19.98 as opposed to $20.00?

Answer that and you have your answer.

It's a psychological tatic used by retailers, as it just sounds like, less money but it's not. It is $20, for the product, in reality. That's why gas stations charge $3.199 instead of $3.20. That penny certainly adds up when you think of the amount of gas, consumed in this country. The penny will be around for a long time. Many businesses can and will make a lot of money off the penny, when you think of millions/billions of people that buy their products.

To us, it seems useless, as it appears to be such a small amount of money but the corporations probably won't think of it that way. IMHO

[bonrich]

Have you noticed that some of the restaurants now round up your check to eliminate change. Example, if your check is $3.52, give them a five and your change back is $1.00. Think about all the patrons going through a busy restaurant in a business day. Found money.......

[JourneyOfLife]

We spend less cash than we ever did in the past.

The majority of our transactions are some sort of check or electronic transaction (credit card or debit card).

We spend only a small amount of cash as a percentage of total expenditures in a year.

[blueash]

The US minted a half-penny from 1793 to 1857 when they stopped making them as their purchase power was so little it was felt they were no longer needed. That 1/2 cent is equal to the purchasing power of about 10 cents today. Essentially in 1858 the lowest value coin would be a 20 cent coin today. Excellent arguments can be made for eliminating both the penny and the nickel. With inflation, a penny is worth about 20% of what it was worth in 1974 and only 10% of what is was worth in 1950. In other words those in favor of saving the penny need to be willing to say that we should have had a 1/10 cent piece in 1950, only a 1000 to the dollar. Fun calculator available at
CPI Inflation Calculator (http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=0.01&year1=1951&year2=2013)

[DougB]

Can't see the need for a penny, but putting two pennies together makes cents!

[2BNTV]

Can't see the need for a penny, but putting two pennies together makes cents!

:1rotfl: You are a funny dude!

Joe

[TheVillageChicken]

In a lot of overseas locations, the US Military eliminates the penny and rounds prices up or down in the PX and Commissary. Works just fine. I think gasoline companies should eliminate the 9/10 of a cent on their prices. They have us trained to quote the price of gas a penny lower than it really is.

[Regor]

so, who doesn't bitch when the price of gas goes up one or two cents a gallon? What if every time they raised the price it would go up five cents?

[TheVillageChicken]

so, who doesn't bitch when the price of gas goes up one or two cents a gallon? What if every time they raised the price it would go up five cents?

Haven't paid cash for gas in 15 years.

[donb9006]

Making "money" isn't supposed to be a "for profit" business for the government.

[JB in TV]

so, who doesn't bitch when the price of gas goes up one or two cents a gallon? What if every time they raised the price it would go up five cents?

This really isn't the point. It could be $3.259 a gallon...10 gallons would be $32.59, you would pay $32.60...

[mulligan]

It would increase efficiency for sure. A good example is at the exec golf starter shacks. There are 3 items for sale. Pull carts, trail fees, and green fees. All are calculated to include tax and come out to an even dollar. You can do transactions all day long and never see a coin. Works really well.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

It's a psychological tatic used by retailers, as it just sounds like, less money but it's not. It is $20, for the product, in reality. That's why gas stations charge $3.199 instead of $3.20. That penny certainly adds up when you think of the amount of gas, consumed in this country. The penny will be around for a long time. Many businesses can and will make a lot of money off the penny, when you think of millions/billions of people that buy their products.

To us, it seems useless, as it appears to be such a small amount of money but the corporations probably won't think of it that way. IMHO

While it certainly started out that way, I don't think that anyone is "fooled" by it any longer. Most retailers today use it as a code. .97 means the item is on clearance, .98 means it's on sale this week, .99 is the regular price. These are not standardized codes throughout the retail industry, it's just an example. I worked for a few different retailers and we'd have to go changing the tags around every week depending on what was on sale.

[JourneyOfLife]

Here is an overview of the debate.

Penny debate in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_debate_in_the_United_States)

[nitehawk]

Wonder why Canada has no problem with one dollar and two dollar coins --- they dont walk around with bulging pockets of coins ?????? Has no problem with supporting wars etc ----- USA you are just so smart

[JB in TV]

Here is an overview of the debate.

Penny debate in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_debate_in_the_United_States)

Thanks for this link! Interesting.

[Jo from Ottawa]

We got rid of our pennies at least a year ago and it appears to be working out fine and dandy. We simply round up or down. There's no more digging around in our wallets for three cents while irritating customers in line behind us. The absence of pennies has not, however, lightened the load in my purse. We still use one and two dollar coins but those distinctive "loonies" and "toonies" that we haul around contribute to our hardy Canadian identity.

[zcaveman]

If you ran a business with a product that cost you twice as much to produce than to sell (penny costs 2.4 cents to make and is only worth one cent", wouldn't you entire discontinue that product or find a cheaper way to produce it?

Those that say to keep the penny are wasting our taxes that go to the government to mint this penny.

The government finally stopped distributing the golf dollar presidential coins because no one would put them into circulation. I am not sure if they actually quite minting them or slowed down the minting process. I do know that they are still available from dealers at a highly inflated price.

Personally, I would say to quit minting pennies. Something has to be done to start reining the spending in the government.

Z

[BS Beef]

Here is an overview of the debate.

Penny debate in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_debate_in_the_United_States)

This was an interesting read. I thought it was funny both sides said they had public support on their side.

I'd like to throw my vote in for getting rid of the penny. Frankly I think if there's a debate it's whether or not we should get rid of the nickel.

[zcaveman]

This was an interesting read. I thought it was funny both sides said they had public support on their side.

I'd like to throw my vote in for getting rid of the penny. Frankly I think if there's a debate it's whether or not we should get rid of the nickel.

Agree!

Z