Should we downsize the Lincoln cent?

Should we downsize the Lincoln cent like some other countries downsized their one cent pieces?

 

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No we should eliminate them like a lot of other countries have done.

 

Make them smaller so that they are easier to lose ?

Think of all the vending machines, auto registers (self checkout), etc that would have to be changed. Plus a purge of existing cents. Not gonna happen.

 

No!! Reason are obvious, if you think about it.

 

Like I have posted before. Pretty simple fix, and nearly everyone will be happy, therefore Congress will never pass it. Mandate on one day all cents are now worth 5 cents. Discontinue making current 5 cent pieces, making new ones with same dimensions of current cents.

Everyone thinks they "made money" off their cents, easing transition, and mint goes from unprofitable on two coins to profitable on one. Additionally, makes room in change drawers for dollar coins.

Like I said, like most things that make sense it will probably never happen with this dysfunctional government.

 

The GOV could eliminate all coins under 25 cents and require merchants to give the change value electronically and if customer refused it goes to the state. Sooner or later.

 

Yes, we should. But we won’t. We don’t like change. Ehh, I mean when things change.

 

wouldn't that stunt coin collecting?
Think of how many people get involved with just collecting, CRH cents.

 

Or it could cause an uptick? People would want to hold onto what’s still in circulation.

 

Reminds me of how we are still only partially metric, people don't like change. What a pain to work on anything these days because you need to have complete sets of metric tools and SAE tools.

 

The reason you can't change .01 cent coins to .05 cent coins, is because you are looking at the smallest transformation. If you did that, you are effectively changing $1 bills to $5 bills and $10 bills to $50 bills. It's illogical and makes no economic sense.

 

But they cost more to make than they’re worth. Doesn’t make cents to use them. Why do we stop at a cent; why not 0.10 cents? We can set that bar wherever, as long as we make it uniform.

 

No, I am only changing the existing smallest denomination in value. Everything else stays the same. Some people may be sitting on 100,000 cents and they would profit a little more than average, (but not inordinately so), but it would be a tiny bump, people would quickly forget the current nickel as it is phased out over a few years. Old nickels would be curiousities and people are used to the copper thing as five cents, and tiny silver thing 10. It would actually make a TON more sense to foreigners. Think about it, why is the second largest silver colored coin only 5 cents, but the tiny one ten? Took my kids quite a while to understand this, because it is plain dumb.

 

Oh jeez... I do commercial construction estimating and have since the 1980's. Every now and then a military job comes in that I have to use metric scaling tools. Makes my head hurt and requires that I spend the end of that particular day at a watering hole...

 

The United States discontinued the half cent in 1857. Its purchasing power at that time was equal to almost 15 cents today.

Cents, nickels, and dimes are a net drain on commerce and wealth at this point. But that drain is becoming less relevant as electronic payment takes over. I'd love to see circulating coinage in denominations of 1/4, 1, 5, and 10 dollars, and to see cents, nickels, dimes, and halves retired. But I don't expect it.

 

Why not just go to government issued crypto currency?

 

I agree of course. I was just trying to think small and extremely doable to minimize the current damage. A rational government would have done it decades ago.

I wish the current currency redesigns and state quarter program show Congress that the US population is not that adverse to change in their money, but it doesn't appear so.

 

And you don't think we can identify your political leanings...

 

No. You're not getting it. It doesn't work like that.

Let's say I have $100,000 worth of pennies.
Your innocent change now gives me $500,000. Thanks.
You say you are not changing $1 bills into fives, and $10 into $50's,
but that is what happens when you change my $100,000 into $500,000.
Because what if my $100,000 was in 1's or 10's instead of cents?
Now I have $500,000 because it was in cents. It doesn't work.

The only thing to do is get rid of cent. Many threads here on that.
Canada did it, and it's fine. Round every thing off to .05 or .10.
Most transactions are electronic anyway, and those you don't have to round off. Current population of cents can still be used for many years. Despite the doomsday panic people who claim they will be hoarded and we will run out of cents immediately. Zinc cents that rot in your hand while you are waiting to spend them are pointless to hoard.

 

It's almost enough to make me think that somebody planned it this way -- if I thought anybody in the government cared that much.