quote:

Originally posted by hberttmank:
I would be fine if they did away with the penny coin. We could live without just fine and when it costs more to make than it's worth, it doesn't make any sense to keep doing it.

Isn't there a middle ground?
Aren't most transactions digital anyway? Either credit or debit card?

How many people actually use pennies? It seems that they could stop or gradually slow the minting of new ones and most people wouldn't even notice. There are plenty in circulation, sitting in jars and on shelves. If retailers wanted more they could ask people to buy them.

I'm not in favor of making all transactions increments of .05. It seems inflationary. Yeah, I know... the inflation is already here.

Years back when the Navy sent me to Naples, Italy the exchange did away with giving Pennies out due to the cost of keeping them on hand. They used the rounding method posted by Rogue on pg 1 and it wasn’t even noticeable.

I’ve thought they should have pulled the penny years ago.

We’d be far better off if they’d stop printing so many 20s and 100s

If we want to save some real money, how long before someone suggests we just go all digital.

quote:

Originally posted by Muddflap:
If we want to save some real money, how long before someone suggests we just go all digital.

The booger of that, I think, is that some central entity will want to control (read: track) it. That's not good for the consumer.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Sometimes the merchant comes out ahead by 1 or 2 cents. Sometimes the buyer comes out ahead by 1 or 2 cents. Either way, it's just 1 or 2 cents.

You've clearly never seen Office Space!
</sarcasm off>

I still pick up pennies from the ground. Particularly satisfying if they're copper.
I can't be the only one.

Canada eliminated the penny and they simply round up or down to the nearest nickel. It all works out in the wash.

They also eliminated the $1 and $2 bills replacing with coins and it works just fine.

Other than a few moaners and complainers, you work with what you got.

This is now at a time that has come. Both the one-cent and five-cent coins cost more to mint, store, ship, etc then they are worth.

End the one-cent coin as it has absolutely no purchasing power. The five-cent (nickel) should be re-compositioned to aluminum-zinc.

The dime and quarter can continue as is, with the half-dollar used for commemorative issues.

Eliminate the one-dollar bill totally. The “golden dollars” are usable and would fill the slot in cash tills set aside for the one-cent.

Re-issue the $2-bill, also taking over the currency slot of the $1-bill in cash drawers.

“Rounding” of purchases is needed only for actual cash transactions. As most commercial transactions are now electronic, “rounding” for these types of purchases is not needed.

As someone who has been involved in numismatics for over 60 of my 73 years, I’ve heard, seen, and read all the arguments and histories of the 20-cent coin and the “Susan B Anthony” dollar coin debacle; both were easily confused with the quarter-dollar coin.

Canada, the Euro zone, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, not to mention many others have all undergone major redesigns and reconfigurations of their currencies. It’s time for the USA to update too.

That's kind of a massive change for $179M in savings. In terms of the total federal budget and how they spend it, it's penny-wise and pound foolish. Of all the things our government does that are insanely wasteful, you can't tell me that minting pennies even makes the first couple dozen pages of the list.

Good idea, do away with nickels as well because a nickel today is only worth 1/13 what it was in 1950.
Then bring back the $500 bill.

As pointed out Canada removed pennies from circulation in 2013. If you visit Canada you would likely never notice. Pay cash and stores round up/down to the nearest 5.
We also removed $1, $2, $500 and $1000 bills, and recently declared them to no longer be legal tender. The loss of the larger bills is much more noticeable now that $100 is so common due to inflation that everyone carries a few.

Crazy idea. Whip Inflation Now. Put the government on a fiscal leash and stop destroying the value of the dollar. With they way we’re going, how long before twenty dollar bills cost more to print than they’re worth?

I keep the quarters I get for use in vending machines and the like. Dimes, nickels and pennies all go into a jar and once a year or so I take that to the back and deposit it. It usually turns out to be worth between $10 and $20.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

quote:

Originally posted by Muddflap:
If we want to save some real money, how long before someone suggests we just go all digital.

The booger of that, I think, is that some central entity will want to control (read: track) it. That's not good for the consumer.

That is what the left wants to do. I oppose eliminating cash/coins for that reason.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:
Crazy idea. Whip Inflation Now.

Whip Inflation Now = No Immediate Miracles.

On FOX Business this morning the reporter said it actually costs 3.69 cents to make a penny.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
That's kind of a massive change for $179M in savings. In terms of the total federal budget and how they spend it, it's penny-wise and pound foolish. Of all the things our government does that are insanely wasteful, you can't tell me that minting pennies even makes the first couple dozen pages of the list.

I agree that it isn’t going to balance the budget, but that sort of thinking is not going to do it either. Save where we can.

The savings is a rounding error. DOGE should be serious. Congress is the main culprit. For decades the GOP has talked the talk about balanced budgets but kept signing off on more spending because fed money flowing back home keeps congress critters in DC. Saving Pennie’s by getting g rid of the penny is the absolute lowest hanging fruit.

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:

“Rounding” of purchases is needed only for actual cash transactions.

Rounding will be applied to all items before you buy, raising the price of everything.