Do we really need to keep minting pennies? It seems to me that merchandise could be bought and sold just as easily without them. Lots of places already round off.
This has been brought up in Congress already and failed. Mostly people wanted to stop making pennies because the cost was 1.38 cents to make a penny. A nickel costs 8.83 cents to make, so shall we round off to the nearest dime now? Would retailers round everything up a nickel? No big deal on a single can of soup, but when you look at your grocery receipt that has 200 items on it, the extra ten bucks might start to sting. People have learned our currency system, and I would guess have too much attachment to it, I am guessing it won't change anytime soon.
Points all well taken. However, I was thinking more along the lines of not rounding all those prices off, but instead just rounding off the total bill. That way, if you buy one item, it gets rounded, but your grocery bill, for instance, just gets rounded up at the end.
What would gradually happen is retailers would slowly stop pricing things all at 49, 69, or 99 cents. With sales taxes, you would always round the bill off anyway. Most everyone I know 55 and younger wouldn't give a hoot. They throw their pennies in a jar anyway.
The US Mint has announced that they will begin phasing out the production of new pennies later this year, with the final batch being minted in April of 2011. The final pennies minted will be offered as collectors' sets, with proceeds going toward the federal debt.
The US has continued to mint billions of these coins annually even with the cost of each at nearly 1.4 cents. Pennies will remain legal tender, but you will be hard-pressed to find retailers willing to accept them after April of '11 because additional handling fees will be imposed by the federal government as an incentive to make people stop using them.
There are currently 23 trillion unused pennies laying around in peoples' homes. Later this year, the US government will launch "Pennies For Freedom" which will be an effort to collect these, melt them down, and use the material for "green" projects.
It is estimated that the average person loses about $50 worth of pennies in their lifetime.
It takes the average worker in the U.S. about two seconds to earn a penny. If it takes him any longer than that to mess with it at the checkstand, he begins to lose money. Therefore, you can see why it is not worthwhile for most of us to deal with pennies.
Plus, with the value of materials comprising a penny worth more than the coin itself, there is at least a theoretical possibility that you could melt them down and make a profit (this is illegal).
The people who still keep track of their pennies are the same guys who spend four hours at the beach with a metal detector and brag about finding 45 cents.
I would think that we should be using less pennies by this time. With everyone under 55 years old using debit cards, they aren’t collecting nor dispensing as many pennies these days. Come to think about it using plastic money, where the government can trace your every move, you might as well eliminate currency as well. Then when the credit card machines go down for days or weeks you can be as broke as the next guy.
Give me the CASH. Actually, I love spending CASH. Whether it is a penny, nickel, dime, quarter [woops, what happened to the fifty cent piece and why aren’t we using $2. bills?] I love dollars, fives, tens, twenties! If you have too many you may send me your surplus and I will spend them. Don’t have much use for $50 or $100. bills as many merchants frown on taking them. But if our economy keeps inflating the $100 bill may be the bill of choice. When the federal government prints more money it devalues the dollars you have, thus inflation.
When I buy product with CASH it is much easier, must faster compared to someone in the line with a credit card. The government wants to stop spending more per coin than it is worth to pay off the deficit. Give me a break ~ if private enterprise was making the penny they would cost less than 1¢. The federal government should be prohibited from spending more than they receive in taxes. Already you are paying more hidden taxes than one can realize. Then some fool makes the statement that we should institute another TAX. NO MORE TAXES ~ [Didn’t Bush, Sr. say that? Ready my lips!]
Don’t ask me to pay off the deficit with another new tax. Already each man, woman and child in the United States could pay off the national debt if they just sent the government $35,000. Any volunteers? Has Congress been your best friend?
If you go to your bank to get CASH, they won’t give you more than what is in your account. You will not be able to withdraw too much allowing them to charge you excessive fees as they do with plastic.
I love CASH. Let’s keep the bright shiny penny ~ It’s historic.
Why do you detest Checks? I type most of mine, but write fewer that ever. I think it is an evolving situation in that banks don't return checks, just printing those you wrote. Many businesses do it electronically and are transitioning to electronic payments be it automatic monthly bills or people using debit cards. So, I can see that what you detest will eventually disappear. You win.
Checks are bad on a number of levels. Why are people wasting all of that paper and other resources? Writing checks is the most environmentally unsound payment method currently being used.
Haven't you ever been in a hurry and got stuck in line behind somebody writing a check, and making various notations in their checkbook? The bank does all of that electronically. Just let them. And how about all the tons and tons of postage the US mail has to haul around when electronic billing and payment are widely available?
The only folks I find that are pro-check also seem to be pro-penny. You see, people are no longer willing to waste their time with checks, or pennies. Society is moving at a faster pace these days.
Pennies are useful for lots of things. For instance, circuit breakers. And what else are you going to slip into a penny loafer? What other coin would be perfect for throwing in a fountain? And how would you be able to pay for penny candy? They're also real good for laying on a railroad track to flatten out.
Come to think of it, no one does any of that stuff anymore.
Everybody knows that the bestuse you can make of a penny is to use it to check the tread on your car tires. If the depth of the tread is up to Abe's head, then you are safe.
Pennies, half dollars, Susan B Anthony dollars, two dollar bills, even half-cent pieces. Yes, Braxton is right, they are all money. But where do you draw the line? Can we afford to just keep minting coins that people do not need?
All of the above examples are denominations of money that we decided we could function without. Does anyone really think we should bring them all back? Of course not.
Pennies were functional at one time. Today, they are worth less in buying power than any other coin ever minted in US history. I'm pro-money, Mr. Hicks, but it is because I am pro-money that I support the elimination of coinage no longer needed. It is costing us taxpayers too much.
Mike, I'm pro-money, and pro-penny. We won't be using cash much in the future, and probably coins even less. That doesn't mean quit making them. They still make one cent stamps, don't they? We make lots of things that aren't used often but they are there when you need them.
Don't all your friends have jars and jars of pennies that they are keeping out of circulation? If they must keep on minting pennies, why don't they at least cut way back on the amount? Or better yet, just mint them every other year? You know, give people the chance to use the ones they got. There are way too many out there.
As Buford T. posted, pennies and nickels are uneconomical to mint.
The gov't. has cheapened our currency, yet outlaws melting down coins, making it a felony charge. The pre-1982 copper pennies are worth 2 cents, nickels were worth more than a dime at the metal nickel's peak.
Allowing melting down would have hastened the demise of the penny and people would cash in their horde of pennies. We could mint the nickel out of a cheaper metal.
Jefferson should take the lead in the war to save pennies. The drive to collect and cash in pennies should begin with our local merchants. Once we've collected enough, we donate them to the cause of our choosing. Put Jefferson back on the map!
I know you like pennies, Braxton, so I'm not trying to start an argument - but just to satisfy my own curiosity - do you think you could get along OK if suddenly pennies were no longer accepted as legal tender? Exactly what problems would it cause you that I may have missed?
If you fill plastic milk jugs with pennies you can sink anything to the bottom of a lake and it will stay there. Deeper lakes are better suited for these purposes.
"Deeper lakes are better suited for these purposes." Gator infested swamps are also nicely suited for this type of thing. Big Nasty, our friends from the bayous and Lake Michigan thank you for that helpful hint.
OK - Some one needs to strap a jug or two of those pennies around Big Nasty's neck and throw him in Spring Lake. What kind of guy would call themself "Big Nasty", anyway? Could be my ex-wife.
Hmmm. So am I to understand Big Nasty is large, mean, bitingly humorous and...a Woman?#*!?. Well if he's like most ex-wives of anonymous guys I know, he's attractive but not too shapely.
We present to you the new and improved 2010 model Big Ms. Nasty!
Anyone who has studied American history can tell you that it was extremely tough to get people to start using paper currency instead of coinage. People in our generation will likewise vouch for the fact that it has been equally hard to convince some people to use debit cards instead of writing checks. You guys have all nibbled at the edges of the reason, and it is so obvious.
status quo = good change = bad
As Buford T. said in his opening post, people have grown attached to it, so there you go.
Deep, natural lakes are what you are looking for. Not borrow pits for the construction of Highway 30. Also, I am responding to D. Dave, not anon, who is resorting to cheap schoolyard dickery.
After thinking about it for quite some time, it occurred to me that calling myself "Big Nasty" is better than "anonymous" any day of the week. Look out or I'll be on you like Nixon on Cambodia.
Big Nasty- Once again, you are exactly right about being "anonymous". I'm glad J.I.N. has so many interesting posters, anonymous or not, but it helps to get a flavor of who is saying things and where they are coming from.
Your choice of words and imagery are impeccable. Some of your stuff is hilarious. You nail the landing-their is no doubt what you are speaking about.
People who collect wheat pennies will tell you that some are really very valuable. And for the most part, they are all still in circulation. For instance, if you owned a 1909 S-VDB Lincoln head cent, you would be $1200 richer.
Some other valuable pennies include: a 1922 Denver cent (missing the "D"), which is worth $3400, and an accidental 1943 copper-issue (when most cents were steel) worth $80,000!
34 comments:
This has been brought up in Congress already and failed. Mostly people wanted to stop making pennies because the cost was 1.38 cents to make a penny. A nickel costs 8.83 cents to make, so shall we round off to the nearest dime now?
Would retailers round everything up a nickel? No big deal on a single can of soup, but when you look at your grocery receipt that has 200 items on it, the extra ten bucks might start to sting.
People have learned our currency system, and I would guess have too much attachment to it, I am guessing it won't change anytime soon.
Points all well taken. However, I was thinking more along the lines of not rounding all those prices off, but instead just rounding off the total bill. That way, if you buy one item, it gets rounded, but your grocery bill, for instance, just gets rounded up at the end.
What would gradually happen is retailers would slowly stop pricing things all at 49, 69, or 99 cents. With sales taxes, you would always round the bill off anyway. Most everyone I know 55 and younger wouldn't give a hoot. They throw their pennies in a jar anyway.
The US Mint has announced that they will begin phasing out the production of new pennies later this year, with the final batch being minted in April of 2011. The final pennies minted will be offered as collectors' sets, with proceeds going toward the federal debt.
The US has continued to mint billions of these coins annually even with the cost of each at nearly 1.4 cents. Pennies will remain legal tender, but you will be hard-pressed to find retailers willing to accept them after April of '11 because additional handling fees will be imposed by the federal government as an incentive to make people stop using them.
There are currently 23 trillion unused pennies laying around in peoples' homes. Later this year, the US government will launch "Pennies For Freedom" which will be an effort to collect these, melt them down, and use the material for "green" projects.
It is estimated that the average person loses about $50 worth of pennies in their lifetime.
The above item is a reprint of an April Fool's joke from last year. HAHA
Boy, was that funny, Rick. You could have written for Joey Bishop - maybe you did.
It takes the average worker in the U.S. about two seconds to earn a penny. If it takes him any longer than that to mess with it at the checkstand, he begins to lose money. Therefore, you can see why it is not worthwhile for most of us to deal with pennies.
Plus, with the value of materials comprising a penny worth more than the coin itself, there is at least a theoretical possibility that you could melt them down and make a profit (this is illegal).
The people who still keep track of their pennies are the same guys who spend four hours at the beach with a metal detector and brag about finding 45 cents.
What would Larry D mark his ball with if pennies go away? What would he use to pay for his blizzard at the DQ?
I would think that we should be using less pennies by this time. With everyone under 55 years old using debit cards, they aren’t collecting nor dispensing as many pennies these days. Come to think about it using plastic money, where the government can trace your every move, you might as well eliminate currency as well. Then when the credit card machines go down for days or weeks you can be as broke as the next guy.
Give me the CASH. Actually, I love spending CASH. Whether it is a penny, nickel, dime, quarter [woops, what happened to the fifty cent piece and why aren’t we using $2. bills?] I love dollars, fives, tens, twenties! If you have too many you may send me your surplus and I will spend them. Don’t have much use for $50 or $100. bills as many merchants frown on taking them. But if our economy keeps inflating the $100 bill may be the bill of choice. When the federal government prints more money it devalues the dollars you have, thus inflation.
When I buy product with CASH it is much easier, must faster compared to someone in the line with a credit card. The government wants to stop spending more per coin than it is worth to pay off the deficit. Give me a break ~ if private enterprise was making the penny they would cost less than 1¢. The federal government should be prohibited from spending more than they receive in taxes. Already you are paying more hidden taxes than one can realize. Then some fool makes the statement that we should institute another TAX. NO MORE TAXES ~ [Didn’t Bush, Sr. say that? Ready my lips!]
Don’t ask me to pay off the deficit with another new tax. Already each man, woman and child in the United States could pay off the national debt if they just sent the government $35,000. Any volunteers? Has Congress been your best friend?
If you go to your bank to get CASH, they won’t give you more than what is in your account. You will not be able to withdraw too much allowing them to charge you excessive fees as they do with plastic.
I love CASH. Let’s keep the bright shiny penny ~ It’s historic.
Braxton Hicks
Just for the record, Braxton, I have absolutely nothing against cash, per se. What I detest is CHECKS.
Rick,
Why do you detest Checks? I type most of mine, but write fewer that ever. I think it is an evolving situation in that banks don't return checks, just printing those you wrote. Many businesses do it electronically and are transitioning to electronic payments be it automatic monthly bills or people using debit cards. So, I can see that what you detest will eventually disappear. You win.
Braxton Hicks
Checks are bad on a number of levels. Why are people wasting all of that paper and other resources? Writing checks is the most environmentally unsound payment method currently being used.
Haven't you ever been in a hurry and got stuck in line behind somebody writing a check, and making various notations in their checkbook? The bank does all of that electronically. Just let them. And how about all the tons and tons of postage the US mail has to haul around when electronic billing and payment are widely available?
The only folks I find that are pro-check also seem to be pro-penny. You see, people are no longer willing to waste their time with checks, or pennies. Society is moving at a faster pace these days.
Pennies are useful for lots of things. For instance, circuit breakers. And what else are you going to slip into a penny loafer?
What other coin would be perfect for throwing in a fountain? And how would you be able to pay for penny candy? They're also real good for laying on a railroad track to flatten out.
Come to think of it, no one does any of that stuff anymore.
Everybody knows that the bestuse you can make of a penny is to use it to check the tread on your car tires. If the depth of the tread is up to Abe's head, then you are safe.
Pennies, half dollars, Susan B Anthony dollars, two dollar bills, even half-cent pieces. Yes, Braxton is right, they are all money. But where do you draw the line? Can we afford to just keep minting coins that people do not need?
All of the above examples are denominations of money that we decided we could function without. Does anyone really think we should bring them all back? Of course not.
Pennies were functional at one time. Today, they are worth less in buying power than any other coin ever minted in US history. I'm pro-money, Mr. Hicks, but it is because I am pro-money that I support the elimination of coinage no longer needed. It is costing us taxpayers too much.
Mike, I'm pro-money, and pro-penny. We won't be using cash much in the future, and probably coins even less. That doesn't mean quit making them. They still make one cent stamps, don't they? We make lots of things that aren't used often but they are there when you need them.
Ever try to give your 4-year old kid a penny? Try it.
Don't all your friends have jars and jars of pennies that they are keeping out of circulation? If they must keep on minting pennies, why don't they at least cut way back on the amount? Or better yet, just mint them every other year? You know, give people the chance to use the ones they got. There are way too many out there.
As Buford T. posted, pennies and nickels are uneconomical to mint.
The gov't. has cheapened our currency, yet outlaws melting down coins, making it a felony charge. The pre-1982 copper pennies are worth 2 cents, nickels were worth more than a dime at the metal nickel's peak.
Allowing melting down would have hastened the demise of the penny and people would cash in their horde of pennies. We could mint the nickel out of a cheaper metal.
Jefferson should take the lead in the war to save pennies. The drive to collect and cash in pennies should begin with our local merchants. Once we've collected enough, we donate them to the cause of our choosing. Put Jefferson back on the map!
I agree with Dave. Eliminate the penny and make a new nickel out of copper.
Why not make those cons out of something a bit cheaper, so that they wouldn't cost so damn much to make?
I know you like pennies, Braxton, so I'm not trying to start an argument - but just to satisfy my own curiosity - do you think you could get along OK if suddenly pennies were no longer accepted as legal tender? Exactly what problems would it cause you that I may have missed?
If you fill plastic milk jugs with pennies you can sink anything to the bottom of a lake and it will stay there. Deeper lakes are better suited for these purposes.
"Deeper lakes are better suited for these purposes." Gator infested swamps are also nicely suited for this type of thing. Big Nasty, our friends from the bayous and Lake Michigan thank you for that helpful hint.
OK - Some one needs to strap a jug or two of those pennies around Big Nasty's neck and throw him in Spring Lake. What kind of guy would call themself "Big Nasty", anyway? Could be my ex-wife.
Hmmm. So am I to understand Big Nasty is large, mean, bitingly humorous and...a Woman?#*!?. Well if he's like most ex-wives of anonymous guys I know, he's attractive but not too shapely.
We present to you the new and improved 2010 model Big Ms. Nasty!
Anyone who has studied American history can tell you that it was extremely tough to get people to start using paper currency instead of coinage. People in our generation will likewise vouch for the fact that it has been equally hard to convince some people to use debit cards instead of writing checks. You guys have all nibbled at the edges of the reason, and it is so obvious.
status quo = good
change = bad
As Buford T. said in his opening post, people have grown attached to it, so there you go.
Deep, natural lakes are what you are looking for. Not borrow pits for the construction of Highway 30. Also, I am responding to D. Dave, not anon, who is resorting to cheap schoolyard dickery.
After thinking about it for quite some time, it occurred to me that calling myself "Big Nasty" is better than "anonymous" any day of the week. Look out or I'll be on you like Nixon on Cambodia.
I read Big Nasty's stuff on every thread. Never afraid to voice his opinion. He's probably happy somebody noticed.
I don't think there are any big, deep natural lakes anywhere around Jefferson. You'd probably be ahead burying somebody in one of those tire piles.
Big Nasty- Once again, you are exactly right about being "anonymous". I'm glad J.I.N. has so many interesting posters, anonymous or not, but it helps to get a flavor of who is saying things and where they are coming from.
Your choice of words and imagery are impeccable. Some of your stuff is hilarious. You nail the landing-their is no doubt what you are speaking about.
Good post, Larry D.! This issue is all about change (get it)!
People who collect wheat pennies will tell you that some are really very valuable. And for the most part, they are all still in circulation. For instance, if you owned a 1909 S-VDB Lincoln head cent, you would be $1200 richer.
Some other valuable pennies include: a 1922 Denver cent (missing the "D"), which is worth $3400, and an accidental 1943 copper-issue (when most cents were steel) worth $80,000!
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