Bid Farewell to Pennies and Nickels!

Wealth Wire ^ | , November 26th, 2012 | Brittany Stepniak

[angelcindy]

The U.S. is following Canada's footsteps regarding the production of pennies and nickels. According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Giethner, our U.S. Mint intends to remove the penny and nickel coins from circulation beginning early in January 2013.

[zeugma]

on your receipts). The receipt issued to you is simply the odd-cents-change from some purchase you overpaid by a few pennies. The “overpayment” is contained on the receipt and you bring it the next time and submit it to the machine (or cashier) to use it.

From a marketing perspective, that would be pretty good, as it would encourage folk to come back. They'd probably be sneaky and put an expiration date on them though, so folk wouldn't save up craploads of receipts, then bring them all in some day and pay for their purchases with the receipts (which would consume a lot of the cashier's time, and probably piss off customers behind.)

[roadcat]

In the 50s when I started smoking, there was a cigarette machine in the local pool hall that you had to put two dimes in, pull the knob and out comes a pack of butts with three pennies change inside the outer wrapper.

Also, nobody cared how old you were as long as you could reach the coin slot.

Right, as an 8-year-old I regularly went to the grocery store and bought cigarette packs for my dad. Store didn't care. Dad smoked 2 packs a day. I used to be shocked at price stories my dad told me about his youth, about how far a nickel stretched. What's shocking is prices climbed far faster and much higher in my generation over the last 50 years than in his previous 50. And it will get worse now for my children and grandchildren.

[cva66snipe]

Next is the elimination of currency entirely as we've known it. You chip will state your worth. Much easier for tracking ya know.

[Road Glide]

“So no need for quarters then? “

They’ll be replaced by “30 cent” pieces... :)

[Road Glide]

“It cost them 30 cents to make those new presidential dollar coins. But no bank would take them. There’s 2 billion coins locked up somewhere in DC.”

By 2016, expect to see the new $3 coin introduced.

And guess which president is going to be on it...?

[Road Glide]

“3. Replace the dollar bill with a coin.
4. Consider the next coin, maybe $2. You should be able to buy a cheap lunch for a couple coins.”

$2 coin would be better. Folks want their dollar bills.

The denomination that could stand replacement is the $5 bill. Almost every one I see is as ratty as it gets (could this be “the poor man’s twenty?).

I’d like to see a $5 coin, not to replace the $5 bill outright, but to “compete” with it.

As a previous poster mentioned, $10 of bills in your pocket is far more desirable than $10 in $1 coins. But $10 in $5 coins would be very transportable...

[proud American in Canada]

Let the collecting begin....I wonder how long it will take before you can’t find a nickel or penny...

_____________________________________________________

I’ve been collecting pennies since I heard Canada was getting rid of them. Hadn’t heard about the nickels. I use larger coins just to get the pennies.

I think those coins will be worth good money someday. :)

[444Flyer]

"The nickel today is not what it was fifteen years ago. Do you know what this country needs today?…A seven-cent nickel. Yessiree, we’ve been using the five-cent nickel in this country since 1492. Now that’s pretty near a hundred years’ daylight saving. Now, why not give the seven-cent nickel a chance? If that works out, next year we could have an eight-cent nickel. Think what that would mean. You could go to a newsstand, buy a three-cent newspaper and get the same nickel back again. One nickel carefully used would last a family a lifetime!"

[444Flyer]

“Captain Spaulding, I think that is a wonderful idea.”

[1_Rain_Drop]

Using a credit card or debit card reduces the need for any currency in the future. I guess one can use checks.

As to the store creating an in store card etc, that only creates more paperwork and keeping track of pennies. Seems like a waste of time and money for the store owner to save the customer their pennies. The one or two minutes it takes the cashier to work the credit does add up in salary.

[FreedomPoster]

>>My suggestion:
>>
>>1. Dump the penny. It is worth 5 seconds of labor at minimum wage and therefore is just about worthless.

I’ve been saying for more than a decade that the penny should be banned due to it being an impediment to commerce.

[Cronos]

I believe that I read on FR that it has not been economically viable to produce nickels and pennies since 1990 or so and that producing them costs more than they are worth...

[Cronos]

pay by card only....

[Cronos]

perhaps plastic notes like Australia has?

[kearnyirish2]

“I live a very boring life, anybody examining my transactional history is probably being punished.”

I’m the same way, but I get so sick of junk mail & such I think a lot of it originates in these electronic transactions.

[kearnyirish2]

“Almost all vending machines accept the dollar coins.”

I assume you are talking about the US coins; you are right. They’ve come a long way since the release of the Susan B. Anthony dollars (1979?); very few machines accepted them; I remember one game at our arcade did (because it was new - no retro-fitting required). Now in the post office or train stations those $1 US coins are given as change.

[Graybeard58]

I was working for 50¢ an hour in the cotton fields in the 50s, my dad (born 1916) told me that when he first married my mom, he was 20 years old and worked in a cotton gin for 50¢ per day and was very happy to have the job, even at that, the job was seasonal and there was no unemployment. I've since heard others say that they worked for even less per day. These were minimum 10 hour days.

He also hunted at night when I was a kid and occasionally would take me with him, spot lighting was illegal even back then but he shot what he could find to help feed his family. I can still smell that old carbide light.

[bert]

-——You mean let the inflation begin...-——

The elimination of the bottom two coins is a fairly positive indicator that the inflation is already upon us in full force.

The loss of the American coins indicates the tandem worldwide devaluation of the major currencies to gold and other hard assets is not only in process but is likely to continue a long time.

Yesterday there was a piece on wealthy Chinese purchasing $million houses in LA and Las Vegas. They are buying undervalued assets out of China that are seen as a safe place to park some money. The property will increase in value as the devaluation continues.

The inflation is the unstated method for managing the debt..... devalue it.

[discostu]

Lots of credit cards have fees. And one of the most common fees is for lack of use, because you’re costing them money to keep the account open, and not making them any money with transaction fees and interest.

[discostu]

Most junk mail is targeted by zip code. Some stuff happens because you have a “relationship” with the company (usually a credit card, or at least a loyalty card), but for the most part you and all your neighbors get all the same junk. We have a trash can near the mailbox, junk mail only travels 2 feet.