If they stop making them it will be decades before we have a serious shortage of them. By then, one way or another, it simply won’t matter. There used to be half-pennies and it’s not like anyone struggles to make a transaction because we no longer have them. This is another example of a blazing obvious decision that just needs to be made to cut down on government waste.
That would be inflationary as almost every vendor will round up to the nearest five cents, not down.
For some odd reason, I find a lot of pennies here on the ground at car lots, used and new..................
so, instead of a .99 cent price, it becomes a whopping $1.05!!
Might as well take the nickel too.
I have been calling for the death of the penny for decades.
Even though the nickel is my favorite coin they should consider its demise as well.
The dime is also and embarrassment considering how its manufacture has been cheapened.
We should also stop minting paper dollar and five dollar notes.
Replacing paper dollars with two dollar coins as the Canadian did is a possible alternative. I would say our dollar is at least as devalued as the Canadian dollar was at the time of their move.
We just have to come up with a catchy name like the Loony. Maybe we can come up with an alloy with a green tint and stick with the nickname GreenBack.
When I worked in Brazil in the mid 70s, the country had introduced a "New Cruzeiro" about eight years earlier. The Brazilian cruzeiro (1967–1986), denominated cruzeiro novo between 1967 and 1970 in the transition from the previous standard banknotes to the new banknotes issued by Casa da Moeda do Brasil to avoid confusion between the old and the new currency, worth 1.000 old cruzeiros.
If we don't do that, getting rid of the penny will lead to getting rid of the nickel in 20-30 years then the dime 20-30 years after that. It's a path to a "new" currency" without specifically creating one.
Of course, with the whole digitization of money, who needs coins and paper bills? I hardly ever touch the stuff.
As of tomorrow morning, every Federal agency except the military and Social Security, will see their budgets cut by 10%. Those savings will be immediately applied to the Federal deficit. Administrators will be expected to provide equal or better service than before. If you cannot do this, I will find someone who can. Have a nice day.
Canada got rid of the cent years ago for the exact reason of it costing more than they are worth. Things are still priced in cents but rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cent point if you actually use cash.
I was a coin collector when I was a kid, eventually turned away because of the massive fraud and scamming that has overrun the business - but coins and coinage are important and we are long, long overdue for a recoinage to reflect current conditions.
The one cent coin, as 1/100 of the current dollar, is obsolete and should be abandoned. The nickel, too - but I could be behind a one cent coin - with Lincoln the tyrant on it, even - as 1/100 of a revalued dollar.
Electronic transactions and checks can still be accurate to the cent - no rounding needed. Cash transactions can be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents. This is already being done in some stores.
I hardly ever use cash, and use coins even more rarely.
Turns out this is just a rebranding of the digital services office launched by Obama in 2014. No doubt Musk is there to rush us into everything digital—from currency to ID to workforce replacement.
This is true.
I take up a lot of, many a clerk's time to fish pennies out of my pocket so that I do not collect them in my pocket.
I do try to save the true copper pennies that I receive however.
Eventually all physical forms of currency will be deemed ‘too expensive’ to manufacture, thus saving money.
Cut production to 50 million a year, and watch collectors fall all over themselves to pay several $$ apiece for them.
Why don’t they just switch back to cheap pot metal instead of copper like they did during WWII?
They are only copper coated since 1983. Mostly zinc with a thin copper coating. 1982 and previous was about 95% copper. I really wouldn’t miss them, and saving them to roll and cash in is a pain. Takes a lot of time to make .50. Roll a $10 roll of quarters in much less time. I say bye to the penny. Of course there are millions in circulation and will be for a long time.
Dump the penny!