Why do we still have Pennies?

[mmntech]

They got rid of them here, makes a lot of sense. (no pun intended)

In fact I say get rid of everything below a quarter, and change the tax system so that taxes and any other charges have to be part of the advertised price for whatever product or service you are buying, but broken down on receipt. Now everyone can charge for stuff in quarter increments and the person actually pays that amount, rather than have to pay some oddball number. Everything would be rounded to quarters. It would make everyone's life easier when dealing with cash transactions. Cashiers, and consumers.

I used to keep a jar filled to the brim of nickles and dimes that I'd feed into the vending machine at work. Guy that emptied it must have hated me.

Yep, I've been saying for awhile that sales tax should just be included in the price. I believe that's how Britain does it.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

elimination of the smallest increment would only drive prices up in larger increments. if anyone doesn't want their pennies i would be happy to receive them

i agree with the above post that the final price is what should be posted, all taxes and whatever included. afaik, sales tax is levied against the seller and not the buyer, but has never been enforced that way.

 

[lxskllr]

elimination of the smallest increment would only drive prices up in larger increments. if anyone doesn't want their pennies i would be happy to receive them

As opposed to prices going up 'just cause'. A penny is virtually valueless. Nickles and dimes aren't worth much either. A good benchmark to use is penny candy from the 1940s. If you can't buy an item with an inflation adjusted cent, get rid of it. You're wasting money and resources with production. For the record, a 1947 penny is worth 10¢ today. That means we can get rid of the nickle and the penny.

I pickup pennies, but that's just busy work. Based on my work pay, I'm losing money by spending the time to pickup pennies.

 

[Grooveriding]

LOL, well played.

 

[Ketchup]

I take that as a compliment, thank you. Yes, I could hear Andy Rooney saying something like that. He was always entertaining.

 

[ImpulsE69]

As opposed to prices going up 'just cause'. A penny is virtually valueless. Nickles and dimes aren't worth much either. A good benchmark to use is penny candy from the 1940s. If you can't buy an item with an inflation adjusted cent, get rid of it. You're wasting money and resources with production. For the record, a 1947 penny is worth 10¢ today. That means we can get rid of the nickle and the penny.

I pickup pennies, but that's just busy work. Based on my work pay, I'm losing money by spending the time to pickup pennies.

I think people don't realize though that prices go up and down by pennies, not by nickels etc. If you get rid of pennies then the next denomination becomes the 'penny'. It really doesn't matter what its value is until no one is going to change prices by that denomination. Pennies work to the consumers advantage at this point. Do you really want gas to go up by a minimum of .25 cents every 4 hours rather than a penny? Your evaluation of your situation really doesn't apply to everyone. To a broke homeless person, they can still buy something if they get enough of them. Somethign that costs $1 STILL takes 100 pennies, not 1000. If you try to complicate it based on inflation or daily price fluxuations then the same 'uselessness' could be applied to every part of currency on a daily basis. To me, change is annoying - I never use it. Thus, it goes in a jar. The difference is, I know change can still be turned in for cash bills. Granted these days, I debit just about everything so it is much less common. However I do still save it up - just takes longer. I too agree that prices should reflect all cost. I don't know how hiding costs as advertising ever got started or is even legal.

 

[lxskllr]

I think people don't realize though that prices go up and down by pennies, not by nickels etc. If you get rid of pennies then the next denomination becomes the 'penny'. It really doesn't matter what its value is until no one is going to change prices by that denomination. Pennies work to the consumers advantage at this point. Do you really want gas to go up by a minimum of .25 cents every 4 hours rather than a penny? Your evaluation of your situation really doesn't apply to everyone. To a broke homeless person, they can still buy something if they get enough of them. Somethign that costs $1 STILL takes 100 pennies, not 1000. If you try to complicate it based on inflation or daily price fluxuations then the same 'uselessness' could be applied to every part of currency on a daily basis. To me, change is annoying - I never use it. Thus, it goes in a jar. The difference is, I know change can still be turned in for cash bills. Granted these days, I debit just about everything so it is much less common. However I do still save it up - just takes longer.

Getting rid of everything but quarters may be a little aggressive, but the nickle and penny can be easily deleted. Gas? Who cares? Assuming rounding is dog shit wrong, and against the consumer every time, that'll be a whopping $1.20 extra per tank for most people. Saving pennies is saving nothing. Your argument is compelling reason to bring back the half cent piece. Afterall, it only takes 200 of them to get the value of a 1950 dime.

 

[her209]

They should get rid of Penny from Big Bang Theory.

 

[Brainonska511]

I think people don't realize though that prices go up and down by pennies, not by nickels etc. If you get rid of pennies then the next denomination becomes the 'penny'. It really doesn't matter what its value is until no one is going to change prices by that denomination. Pennies work to the consumers advantage at this point. Do you really want gas to go up by a minimum of .25 cents every 4 hours rather than a penny? Your evaluation of your situation really doesn't apply to everyone. To a broke homeless person, they can still buy something if they get enough of them. Somethign that costs $1 STILL takes 100 pennies, not 1000. If you try to complicate it based on inflation or daily price fluxuations then the same 'uselessness' could be applied to every part of currency on a daily basis. To me, change is annoying - I never use it. Thus, it goes in a jar. The difference is, I know change can still be turned in for cash bills. Granted these days, I debit just about everything so it is much less common. However I do still save it up - just takes longer.

We don't have to change any pricing structures if the penny vanished. Debit/Credit transaction can still be carried out with penny amounts, cash transactions would be rounded to the nearest 5 cents.

They should get rid of the Big Bang Theory.

FTFY

 

[ImpulsE69]

Getting rid of everything but quarters may be a little aggressive, but the nickle and penny can be easily deleted. Gas? Who cares? Assuming rounding is dog shit wrong, and against the consumer every time, that'll be a whopping $1.20 extra per tank for most people. Saving pennies is saving nothing. Your argument is compelling reason to bring back the half cent piece. Afterall, it only takes 200 of them to get the value of a 1950 dime.

I knew you would take that route, but there were many people in the thread calling for getting rid of everything but the quarter. I was just using that as the extreme example. Say you get rid of the penny and nickel...then what? Prices go up and down by a dime? how is that helping anyone? It's the SAME thing only costing you more. If a penny is worthless, then it going up and down in prices shouldn't even impact you. I certainly wouldn't mind bringing back the half penny. I think as with most things, people on this website are too rich to really 'get it'. I grew up poor. I appreciate money. I think someone said Canada got rid of theirs? It would be interesting to see how that impacted prices overall. Rounding to larger denominations (or less fractions of them) seems like it would be a negative for consumers and a big win for producers. It's much more complicated than that though.

We don't have to change any pricing structures if the penny vanished. Debit/Credit transaction can still be carried out with penny amounts, cash transactions would be rounded to the nearest 5 cents.


FTFY

Ahh, well ok to me that isn't the same as getting rid of the penny. I thought people were talking about the value, not just the physical aspect. Basically a cash tax is what we are talking here. I could get on board with that.

 

[lxskllr]

I knew you would take that route, but there were many people in the thread calling for getting rid of everything but the quarter. I was just using that as the extreme example. Say you get rid of the penny and nickel...then what? Prices go up and down by a dime? how is that helping anyone? It's the SAME thing only costing you more. If a penny is worthless, then it going up and down in prices shouldn't even impact you. I certainly wouldn't mind bringing back the half penny. I think as with most things, people on this website are too rich to really 'get it'. I grew up poor. I appreciate money. I think someone said Canada got rid of theirs? It would be interesting to see how that impacted prices overall. Rounding to larger denominations (or less fractions of them) seems like it would be a negative for consumers and a big win for producers. It's much more complicated than that though.

Ahh, well ok to me that isn't the same as getting rid of the penny. I thought people were talking about the value, not just the physical aspect. Basically a cash tax is what we are talking here. I could get on board with that.

I'll take on the penny argument, because that can be objectively valued. It costs more to make a penny than it's worth. That's a cost to eveyone that pays taxes to get something they don't want. That only counts production costs. That isn't factoring tranportation costs. Fairies don't put them in your pocket. That's retard economics; like GM selling a $20k car for $15k.

I'm far from rich, but low denominations aren't worth much in the country they're used in. I'm sure Nigerians would love to have my pennies, but then we're back to transportation costs...

I pickup pennies to keep from getting more pennies. Everytime I get four of them, I can get rid of them, and not get more. All change is gone at the earliest opportunity. Driving them around town is a waste of fuel, since again, they don't transport themselves.

 

[Brainonska511]

Ahh, well ok to me that isn't the same as getting rid of the penny. I thought people were talking about the value, not just the physical aspect. Basically a cash tax is what we are talking here. I could get on board with that.

I don't think it would really be a "cash tax". Sometimes, the amount would round down (eg: $2.32 would be $2.30), while sometimes it would round up ($2.34 would be $2.35).

And for something like gas, they could simply sell gas (for cash) in only 5 cent increments, to avoid any penny issues - ie: you can only buy $15.05 worth of gas, not $15.01 worth of gas with cash.

 

[jlee]

I don't think it would really be a "cash tax". Sometimes, the amount would round down (eg: $2.32 would be $2.30), while sometimes it would round up ($2.34 would be $2.35).

And for something like gas, they could simply sell gas (for cash) in only 5 cent increments, to avoid any penny issues - ie: you can only buy $15.05 worth of gas, not $15.01 worth of gas with cash.

Right now a gallon of gas might cost you $2.999. How do you get your 0.1 cents back when you give them $3.00?

As opposed to prices going up 'just cause'. A penny is virtually valueless. Nickles and dimes aren't worth much either. A good benchmark to use is penny candy from the 1940s. If you can't buy an item with an inflation adjusted cent, get rid of it. You're wasting money and resources with production. For the record, a 1947 penny is worth 10¢ today. That means we can get rid of the nickle and the penny.

I pickup pennies, but that's just busy work. Based on my work pay, I'm losing money by spending the time to pickup pennies.

If you get rid of nickels and pennies, then 30 cents in change is three dimes instead of a quarter and a nickel. I don't think the practicality is there as much as it is by eliminating pennies.

 

[olds]

Truth be told....My wife doesn't like her pennies touching her silver coins. Drives her nuts.

Does you'r wife share your username?

Beaten to the punch

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'll take on the penny argument, because that can be objectively valued. It costs more to make a penny than it's worth. That's a cost to eveyone that pays taxes to get something they don't want. That only counts production costs. That isn't factoring tranportation costs. Fairies don't put them in your pocket. That's retard economics; like GM selling a $20k car for $15k.

I'm far from rich, but low denominations aren't worth much in the country they're used in. I'm sure Nigerians would love to have my pennies, but then we're back to transportation costs...

I pickup pennies to keep from getting more pennies. Everytime I get four of them, I can get rid of them, and not get more. All change is gone at the earliest opportunity. Driving them around town is a waste of fuel, since again, they don't transport themselves.

Well from the other posts I think I wasn't on the same page as many people. If we're simply talking about getting rid of the physical penny, I don't oppose that so much since I avoid actually using change as much as possible. With all the rounding talk I thought people wanted to get rid of the actual value fractions thus leading to less options.

 

[n7]

Silly Americans :sneaky:, we don't have them.
You do.

 

[TheGardener]

The answer must be that there is an influential penny lobby in Washington. Given all the inflation that has occurred over the last fifty years, there is no practical reason to keep them. To boot even with the cheaper material changes, it likely costs more than 1 cent for our government to manufacture and distribute them. But that only makes sense to a business person, not a politician.

I'm so old that I remember being able to buy something for a penny. There was a neighborhood store that sold 'penny' candy for a penny. You can't buy anything for a penny anymore. I'm not even sure you can buy anything for nickel, though I'm not sure.

 

[jlee]

The answer must be that there is an influential penny lobby in Washington. Given all the inflation that has occurred over the last fifty years, there is no practical reason to keep them. To boot even with the cheaper material changes, it likely costs more than 1 cent for our government to manufacture and distribute them. But that only makes sense to a business person, not a politician.

I'm so old that I remember being able to buy something for a penny. There was a neighborhood store that sold 'penny' candy for a penny. You can't buy anything for a penny anymore. I'm not even sure you can buy anything for nickel, though I'm not sure.

I remember those.

 

[ultimatebob]

Basically, the US penny is still around because Zinc industry has powerful lobbyists.

 

[88keys]

I think cash currency in general should be done away with.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think cash currency in general should be done away with.

In a way I agree except it's inevitable that the government tracks whatever the replacement is, which is credit/debit cards. One should still be able to make a cash transaction if they wish. Of course, for that reason I could see the government wanting to get rid of cash as they don't like anything that they can't easily track.

If debit/credit was the only way, banks need to get rid of service charges though, both for consumers and stores. Stores should not have to pay all those fees for credit card transactions, I think it's BS. It should be a monthly cost for the ATM line or w/e is needed for the machine to work, but no transaction fees. I can almost guarantee the consumers are actually paying that since stores have to charge a bit more for their products to make up their cost of accepting credit cards. That's why some places don't even accept them.

 

[Z15CAM]

The penny disappeared years ago in Canada - I think the Loonie and Toonie should disappear as well.

As a matter of fact get rid of the whole world monitory system - It just keeps us enslaved and governs who lives or dies.

 

[88keys]

In a way I agree except it's inevitable that the government tracks whatever the replacement is, which is credit/debit cards. One should still be able to make a cash transaction if they wish. Of course, for that reason I could see the government wanting to get rid of cash as they don't like anything that they can't easily track.

If debit/credit was the only way, banks need to get rid of service charges though, both for consumers and stores. Stores should not have to pay all those fees for credit card transactions, I think it's BS. It should be a monthly cost for the ATM line or w/e is needed for the machine to work, but no transaction fees. I can almost guarantee the consumers are actually paying that since stores have to charge a bit more for their products to make up their cost of accepting credit cards. That's why some places don't even accept them.

I know. I suppose if there was a way to have an anonymous cash card or something..

But for me it's like this. Once somebody comes up with an easier way to do something; I'm all about it and I will grow to despise the old way of doing things. The job I work for now is switching to paperless payroll and this is a good thing for those of us who have direct deposit. Some people are griping, but I say fuck em. It's 2015 and we shouldn't have to waste time and money printing and distributing paystubs. Change happens and you either adapt or get left behind.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Pennies will never go away because of taxes. Those advocating doing away with cash altogether are just plain crazy. Do you really want big brother to have a record of every cent you spend and where?

 

[Raizinman]

Besides losing the penny, I would also like to see the thousand dollar bill return. With expensive houses, cars, tractors, motorcycles, jewelry and other things, hundred dollar bills are becoming too bulky. I would not mind seeing a ten thousand dollar bill too. We use to have both that and even a hundred thousand dollar bill back in 1934 with Woodrow Wilson on it.