[JB in TV]

Originally Posted by 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).

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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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

[DougB]

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

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by DougB

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

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?