Should the U.S. get rid of the Penny?

[Purogamer]

They cost more than they are worth, they smell, they're annoying...No i'm not talking about Comcast Installers again, I'm talking about the freaking PENNY. Damn things cost 1.7 cents to make, they're EVERYWHERE, and they serve very little usage in the modern day. I realize we're not ready to make the leap to all-electronic money for some reason, but we've got to stop making pennies I think. If you want to buy something for $1.03 and you've only got $1.05, tough for you. I'm tired of the penny and the waste of space that it is.

Who's with me? Let's rid the world of the most useless monetary piece and make the leap into a post-1975 world.

 

[riffjim4069]

They cost more than they are worth, they smell, they're annoying...

Are we talking about pennies or former wives/girlfriends?

 

[mperdue]

According to the FAQ at the US Mint your information is wrong...


Q - Are there any plans to remove the one-cent coin (more popularly known as the "penny”) from circulation?

A - You may be interested to know that the penny is the most widely used denomination currently in circulation and it remains profitable to make. Significantly, it is Congress that determines the denominations of coins that the United States Mint must produce and put into circulation. Each penny costs .93 of a cent to make, but the Mint collects one cent for it. The profit goes to help fund the operation of the Mint and to help pay the public debt.

Although the Mint produces the coins that Congress mandates, the Mint does not have the authority to abolish a unit of currency. If directed to do so by legislation enacted by Congress and signed by the President, the Treasury Department would study phasing out the penny. Since the demand exists and the Federal Reserve Banks require inventories to meet the demand, the United States Mint is committed to producing the penny.

 

[rad]

I think that is old information. There was something on CNBC recently about how the run up in metal prices has now made the penny more costly to make then it's worth.

 

[long_time_DNC]

I've been collecting coins for many years...pennies among them. I'd hate to see future collectors deprived of the fun of hunting down pennies...

 

[Purogamer]

Oh you can hunt down old pennies the same way you hunt down out-of-circulation coins now. I'm just sick of them. I'm sick of all coins to be honest, but pennies are just useless, when do you ever use a penny? Hell, at the gas stations they'll GIVE them to you if you need them...

That is really old info. A penny costs 1.23 cents to make and nickels are worse at 5.73 cents each.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-05-09-penny-usat_x.htm

 

[damaged]

Die pennies, die!

 

[mperdue]

Oh you can hunt down old pennies the same way you hunt down out-of-circulation coins now. I'm just sick of them. I'm sick of all coins to be honest, but pennies are just useless, when do you ever use a penny? Hell, at the gas stations they'll GIVE them to you if you need them...

That is really old info. A penny costs 1.23 cents to make and nickels are worse at 5.73 cents each.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-05-09-penny-usat_x.htm

Well, it can't be real old. The article mentions a 27 percent increase in the cost of producing a 1 cent coin over the last year. That would bring the price in line with the 1.23 cents that the article mentions. That is significantly lower than the 1.7 cents you quoted in your original post. Given that each coin will remain in circulation for an average of 30 years and that it is the most used coin minted I suspect it will be in production for a long time.

 

[charper1]

We need to switch to an all electronic debit / credit system!

 

[mperdue]

We need to switch to an all electronic debit / credit system!

At least for the short term, there are too many privacy issues for that to fly.

 

[charper1]

The same info is already out there, so it would be nothing new.

 

[BFG]

Well I don't see how you can propose to remove the penny when you haven't presented a solution to removing it.

How will people that pay cash get the right change with no pennies? I used pennies a lot last year when I paid cash and paid exact change.

 

[damaged]

Well I don't see how you can propose to remove the penny when you haven't presented a solution to removing it.

Fair enough, I propose we give all the pennies to the ones who voted to keep them, sure they'd be rich, but think of the nightmare having to roll them all...

How will people that pay cash get the right change with no pennies? I used pennies a lot last year when I paid cash and paid exact change.

Good point, come to think of it, I'd have to move up to chucking nickels at them people on the corner who keep trying to sell me some crap out of a bucket, could get expensive.

 

[rad]

Well I don't see how you can propose to remove the penny when you haven't presented a solution to removing it.

How will people that pay cash get the right change with no pennies? I used pennies a lot last year when I paid cash and paid exact change.

Round up/down change to the closet nickel is what I've seen proposed as the solution.

 

[Purogamer]

Well it's pretty simple, if I owe you 3 cents for whatever reason, YOU GET NOTHING. Who the hell is concerned about losing a few pennies? You're getting raped at the gas pump but you're concerned about a few pennies that walmart owes you...

You guys still pay with cash? Beyond the car wash and vending machines (neither of which accept pennies) I can't imagine where you even use cash anymore...Maybe at a county fair when you're buying kielbasa or something, but that could be remedied by buying tickets at the gate, or token. Kinda like how arcades worked. You can trade in 25 pennies and get something that the machines could actually use.

I've got a bunch of pennies here and i'm honestly too embarrassed to take them to the coinstar machine at the grocery store. I'd rather just throw them away than haul 6 pounds of pennies to the grocery store for 3 bucks...The day of the penny has gone my friends, it's 2006...

 

[long_time_DNC]

I use cash and coin all the time. Drive-thru's, grocery store, vending machines, mini-marts, etc. I'm just not ready to see the "cashless society" yet...

As far as rounding prices up/down to reduce/eliminate the need for pennies...I could see that happening in 3-5 years. You can't buy penny candy anymore...can't even by nickel candy. That's sad...

 

[jayelem]

The Lincoln penny is close to 100 years old, look for a change in the design in about 2 years.

The mint has been making quite a bit of money with collectors, The 50 state Quarter collection, and the Jefferson Nickel Series has sparked quite a bit of interest in coin colecting.

I still have my blue Whitmann penny books, if they decide to ged rid of the penny, I sure would miss it.

Remember when you went Trick or Treating , there was always a house or two that would give you change, PUROGAMER nows your chance, come October dump your pennies on the kiddies.

 

[Spatch]

If my next % pay raise bring me to $xx.04 and we phased out the penny. Who would lose out? Say the company I work for rounds it up to 5 cents... I would earn $20.80 more a year. But, if my raise was $xx.02 and they rounded it down I would stand to lose $41.60.
My company has over 6000 stores and most likely employes over 15 million people. Just imaging the money the could save if they strategicely round most raises down.

 

[dantheman77]

i say NO, NO!!!! just my 2 cents worth!!! LOL

 

[TNGTony]

I think the penny should go away along with the dollar bill. Use a dollar coin. The US is the last remaining currency that still uses a single dinomination note rather than a coin. You will not find a single Pound, Euro both of which are worth more than the dollar. There is also no single canadian dollar, yen, ruble (which is now on the world stage as a powerhouse due to oil money). But that isn't the only reason or even a good reason. The best reason is they are harder to couterfeit, the last 10 times longer on average than paper money. Coins cost more to mint but the benefits outweigh the cost.

We have THREE dollar coins still in circulation. Though they are no seen very often, the Eisenhawer über coin, the Susan B and the Sakaje...secay...sak... That indian chick that save Lewis and Clark's butts from freezing to death -- coin (My favorite). The Eisenhawer coin is huge and heavy but clearly different than all the other coins. The Sacagawea coin is a golden color so it is also clearly different than the other US coins. It also works in most current vending machines. The Susan B looks and feels too much like a quarter so it needs to stay retired.

See ya
Tony