Dump the Penny

[Adam's Apple]

Absolutely more trouble than it's worth. It now costs the U.S. Government 1.23 cents to make 1 cent--a needless expense, even if it is small potatoes.

Penniless
By Rich Lowry, National Review
July 14, 2006

Giving money away for free is not behavior one expects from ordinary, rational Americans. But it’s something they do every day in massive numbers—that is if you consider the penny to be money.

At store counters around the country, people will leave pennies for the next customer, something they’d never do with a dime or quarter or any piece of currency they actually value. The poor, pathetic penny has become clutter in the nation’s pockets, the irritating detritus of cash transactions that inconveniently don’t end in a 5 or 0. Pennies sit in jars around the country, waiting in desuetude until their owners work up the energy to haul them to a bank or to a supermarket with a Coinstar kiosk where they can be exchanged for useful money.

Yes, we love Abraham Lincoln. We love our memories of buying candy with pennies when we were children. We love our traditional adages (“a penny for your thoughts,” etc.). But none of that should be enough anymore to inflict the penny on adults attempting to conduct cash transactions in an efficient way. Who will rid us of this nettlesome coin?

for full article:
http://author.nationalreview.com/latest/?q=MjE1NQ==

 

[Nuc]

You can't buy anything for a penny. It's just clutter in your pocket.

 

[007]

The penny 'used to be' solid copper. Now it's copper plated ZINC.

When I get home with a pocket full of change, the nickels, dimes and quarters go in a jug. The pennies go in the trash.

 

[insein]

Its still money. IT all goes in the jug. I get something for it when i goto the bank when its full. Commerce bank shows youall the Quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies you put in. I had about 8.50 in pennies. I'll take $8.50.

We need pennies because random tax numbers make transactions impossible to keep at 5 or 0. People are just lazy anymore is all.

 

[5stringJeff]

Or, get back on the gold standard, tie the dollar to a certain amount of gold (or silver), and the penny will be right back in style.

 

[Rico]

As long as the United States has a currency based on the decimal of 100 the penny must remain. There is no other mathematical way to make change, balance or maintain accounts, or calculate proper interest without the penny. Besides Abe's profile is great.

 

[Mr.Conley]

As long as the United States has a currency based on the decimal of 100 the penny must remain. There is no other mathematical way to make change, balance or maintain accounts, or calculate proper interest without the penny. Besides Abe's profile is great.

Round to the nearest 0 or 5.

 

[Working Man]

Absolutely more trouble than it's worth. It now costs the U.S. Government 1.23 cents to make 1 cent--a needless expense, even if it is small potatoes.

Pennies can be used to keep the lights on when a fuse blows. They make great copper plated shims on side mount batteries, just add a hole to match the stud.

At CHRISTMAS TIME,, keep your pennies within reach,, for about thirty cents in pennies, and maybe a nickel or two, you will be the hero when you drop all of those little copper jobs into the Salvation Kettle.. When others hear of all the coins dropping into the hole, they too will feel compelled to donate MORE than you. See??? You helped feed and house the less fortunate all thanks to PENNIES!!!

Pennies are great for paying off parking tickets. Just get them by the roll, empty them from their paper wrapper, fill an old sock with your offer of forgiveness, and show up at your local parking authority with a smile.. Make restitution the American way,, with good old Abes in a sock!!

Pennies lost on the beach, help the old people find the coin dumps during metal detecting after a hot summers day.

For less than the price for a package of Twinkies, you can drive some old person nuts buy throwing pennies all over the beach after a hot summers day and then see if they keel over from exhaustion while trying to dig them all up. Take bets with your friends and use pennies as the wager. It's cheap, fun, and all so American!!

No my friends, never lose the penny from our coinage. It is part of our heritage to remember the humble penny..

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

They might as well quit minting them, because eventually they are going to disappear whether the government likes it or not. Why? It won't be long before (the value of zinc + cost of melting it) is greater than the monetary value. I guess $1.23 covers the value of the zinc but not the cost of melting and purifying the zinc, otherwise they would be gone already.

In other words, Gresham's Law takes over: bad money drives out good money. Ever sift through your change bucket lately? Seen any 1964 or earlier quarters or dimes? I bet you'll find lots of 1965's, but not a single 1964. That was the last year for 90% silver quarters and dimes. Now we basically have bus tokens. A bag full of old quarters might have a face value of $200, but the silver value is $600, so people hoard them and they disappear from circulation.

 

[Gunny]

Absolutely more trouble than it's worth. It now costs the U.S. Government 1.23 cents to make 1 cent--a needless expense, even if it is small potatoes.

Pennies can be used to keep the lights on when a fuse blows. They make great copper plated shims on side mount batteries, just add a hole to match the stud.

At CHRISTMAS TIME,, keep your pennies within reach,, for about thirty cents in pennies, and maybe a nickel or two, you will be the hero when you drop all of those little copper jobs into the Salvation Kettle.. When others hear of all the coins dropping into the hole, they too will feel compelled to donate MORE than you. See??? You helped feed and house the less fortunate all thanks to PENNIES!!!

Pennies are great for paying off parking tickets. Just get them by the roll, empty them from their paper wrapper, fill an old sock with your offer of forgiveness, and show up at your local parking authority with a smile.. Make restitution the American way,, with good old Abes in a sock!!

Pennies lost on the beach, help the old people find the coin dumps during metal detecting after a hot summers day.

For less than the price for a package of Twinkies, you can drive some old person nuts buy throwing pennies all over the beach after a hot summers day and then see if they keel over from exhaustion while trying to dig them all up. Take bets with your friends and use pennies as the wager. It's cheap, fun, and all so American!!

No my friends, never lose the penny from our coinage. It is part of our heritage to remember the humble penny..

Dude, if you are replacing your fuses with pennies you're asking for a fire. That fuse is overcurrent protection and it blows when you overload a circuit.

I recommend upgrading your panel to at least this century to one with breakers in it instead of fuses. Barring that, replace the fuses. I could cost you BIG to take that little shortcut.

 

[MtnBiker]

If businesses only collected on a demonitaion of .05 would anyone notice?

 

[Semper Fi]

If businesses only collected on a demonitaion of .05 would anyone notice?

Big business would. Remeber Office Space? Same principle...I think.

 

[KarlMarx]

Absolutely more trouble than it's worth. It now costs the U.S. Government 1.23 cents to make 1 cent--a needless expense, even if it is small potatoes.

Pennies can be used to keep the lights on when a fuse blows. They make great copper plated shims on side mount batteries, just add a hole to match the stud.

At CHRISTMAS TIME,, keep your pennies within reach,, for about thirty cents in pennies, and maybe a nickel or two, you will be the hero when you drop all of those little copper jobs into the Salvation Kettle.. When others hear of all the coins dropping into the hole, they too will feel compelled to donate MORE than you. See??? You helped feed and house the less fortunate all thanks to PENNIES!!!

Pennies are great for paying off parking tickets. Just get them by the roll, empty them from their paper wrapper, fill an old sock with your offer of forgiveness, and show up at your local parking authority with a smile.. Make restitution the American way,, with good old Abes in a sock!!

Pennies lost on the beach, help the old people find the coin dumps during metal detecting after a hot summers day.

For less than the price for a package of Twinkies, you can drive some old person nuts buy throwing pennies all over the beach after a hot summers day and then see if they keel over from exhaustion while trying to dig them all up. Take bets with your friends and use pennies as the wager. It's cheap, fun, and all so American!!

No my friends, never lose the penny from our coinage. It is part of our heritage to remember the humble penny..

"What this country needs is an 8 cent nickel" - Groucho Marx "Animal Crackers 1930

 

[Working Man]

Dude, if you are replacing your fuses with pennies you're asking for a fire. That fuse is overcurrent protection and it blows when you overload a circuit.

I recommend upgrading your panel to at least this century to one with breakers in it instead of fuses. Barring that, replace the fuses. I could cost you BIG to take that little shortcut.

I only did it a couple of times and the smoke cleared soon enough so I could see where to wrap the aluminum foil over the burnt fuses!!!!

AND THEN GOD INVENTED THE AC GENERATOR AND GFI,, ONCE HE FIGURED OUT THAT THE DVD PLAYER HE INVENTED NEEDED TO BE POWERED,,, SO HE DID, AND IT WAS GOOD... MOVIES,,,AIR CONDITIONING,, COLD BEER IN THE FRIDGE.. WHAT BROWN OUTS?

 

[MtnBiker]

Big business would. Remeber Office Space? Same principle...I think.

Big business would love it, they would round up.

Not sure about the Office Space reference.

 

[Mr.Conley]

Big business would love it, they would round up.

Not sure about the Office Space reference.

I don't think so. Why are so many items priced at $9.95 instead o f $9.99 or $10? They want us to see the smaller front number, people are more inclined to by a product that is $999.95 than one that is $1,000. I expect that we'll see more businesses round down.

 

[JOKER96BRAVO]

Hell no don't get rid of the penny.
What would happen if we had $0.05 pitcher of beer nights?
Chaos, that's what.

 

[MtnBiker]

I don't think so. Why are so many items priced at $9.95 instead o f $9.99 or $10? They want us to see the smaller front number, people are more inclined to by a product that is $999.95 than one that is $1,000. I expect that we'll see more businesses round down.

Mr. Conley, I believe we agree. If there was no penny, items could be priced at $9.95. By rounding up I meant going from 9.92 to 9.95 or a similar example.

 

[Mr.Conley]

Mr. Conley, I believe we agree. If there was no penny, items could be priced at $9.95. By rounding up I meant going from 9.92 to 9.95 or a similar example. [/quot]
Oh yea, in any case like that we're screwed; however, so many items are priced at $XX.99 that I'd bet the resulting 4 cent drop on all those items will outweigh any increase.

 

[Semper Fi]

Mr. Conley, I believe we agree. If there was no penny, items could be priced at $9.95. By rounding up I meant going from 9.92 to 9.95 or a similar example. [/quot]
Oh yea, in any case like that we're screwed; however, so many items are priced at $XX.99 that I'd bet the resulting 4 cent drop on all those items will outweigh any increase.

Why not a 1 cent increase?