Ditching the "penny"

Then they could try unattainium

 

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Yes, the nickel has been a loser for nearly 20 years.

Proposing to get rid of the nickel has always seemed so much more extreme, but it also financially does not make any sense. We've had the discussion, but it has always been... well, it isn't as much of a premium, and the value is more... how will we handle not having it?

On the current trend, the dime will be a loser within a decade.

In reality... how many people use cash, and how many use cents and nickels? There is literally a take-a-penny/leave-a-penny for this reason.

Get rid of the cent. Get rid of the nickel. Get rid of the dime. I guess keep the quarter for now, knowing that a few more years of inflation that's going to become meaningless as well.

Round prices to the nearest quarter.

In countries with inflation, they get rid of their lowest units and round to the nearest unit. This is a wide precedent... just accept it. If you want your government to inflate the currency, you have to accept the consequences.

I just came back from Argentina, where the exchange rate was somewhere near 1000 pesos to the dollar. I guarantee you, I never saw fractional pesos, and I rarely saw less than a round 1000. It just isn't worth it.

 

Oh, I agree. We still need the change, it’s just not the best immediate business move if you’re trying to cut costs, it’s an easy axe.

I think we have to make judgement on whether something is more important as a profit making system, or whether it is more important for the public commons. Making change at the 1, 2, 5, and 10 cent level will still be necessary, especially in areas where people choose to use cash over electronic payments. @-jeffB sometimes what makes the most sense”economic sense” doesn’t make the most common sense. Until all prices are rounded above the lowest denomination, we will need those denominations in change.

 

Something to note, however, is that they had an equivalent to their penny, nickel, and dime. They are inflated to add zeros, but they still have and use them. And while inflation is high, I don’t think we have it anywhere near the level needed to round all items to 25 cents. Rounding to 5, probably a reasonable possibility.

 

From Gallup: “Seventy-three percent of upper-income Americans use cash for only a few or none of their purchases, compared with 49% of lower-income Americans.”

Essentially, ditching change and rounding will negatively affect low-income households.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/397718/americans-using-cash-less-often-foresee-cashless-society.aspx

 

Don't make this a DEI issue!!!

 

For the uninformed, DEI, used here, stands for “Diversity, equity and inclusion”.

Read the article at Wikipedia, should you wish to get a robust understanding of how this applies to ending the cent ( or additional targets).

@CoinCorgi …if the Gallup information is correct, ending cent production has already become a DEI issue. But low income households will not be the only ones impacted negatively: Mint employees, copper and zinc suppliers, planchet manufacturers, transportation systems and more will be affected. But it has to be done to make the corrections needed. I only hope the powers that be are able to implement a fix that really works without dragging it out or making fools of themselves by using half-measures.

 

@lordmarcovan …I apologize, but I was trying to clarify the acronym. I honestly hope I didn’t offend anyone, and if you say it’s too close then I will abide and avoid it…Spark

 

The mint will not save any money if we eliminate the cent, they will just reallocate the waste.

The mint is assigned the task of providing legal tender instruments to support the commerce of the nation. There are certain inherent costs in this mission that cannot be assigned directly and would be classified overhead. The overhead has increased significantly, to the point where all costs are excessive. This is not the fault of the penny.

The mint is fulfilling it's obligation to provide legal tender in support of the commerce. In this case I think the penny may just be a scapegoat to draw attention away from the real issues of waste.

 

I’d offer that the significantly longer life expectancy of the nickel compared to the crappy zinc cent outweighs the initial production cost difference that might be making you think of the nickel as a loser.

 

Pointing out that something will hurt the poor has absolutely nothing to do with DEI. Raising taxes hurts the poor. That’s not political, and it’s not DEI. It’s simple truth. This is exactly why @CoinCorgi is on ignore and why @Spark1951 now joins the list for turning a discussion about coins and money into politics. Good grief.

 

lol

 

isn't that all categorized under crazy-nium?

 

Not to mention Unobtanium

 

Transnistria

 

@Seattlite86 …just in case you missed this part.

 

I feel like I bought a set of these some years ago. I’m not sure the American public would go for something like this. I don’t know how we replace the metal content of the cent and keep making it at cost or below. The quarter always made up for the cent and nickel, so overall, the mint makes money vs loses it.