Poll: Should the United States government eliminate the penny?

Cuz they're actually aliens bent on taking over the world, starting with our table scraps. They won't eliminate us, though, because we invented the perfect thing to twart them: the doorknob.

In other news: I voted no, just on my own gut feelings. I'm no economist, nor have I had the "pleasure" of ever taking such a class, but my fear is that it will cause a huge jump in inflation.

 

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I vote no to completely getting rid of it, but perhaps it would have been a good time to end the Lincoln series on the 100 year anniversary, and perhaps even better yet, end it on the same note it began by mint very few 2009 s-vdb coins like the 1909 s-vdb, and not tell anybody until they were out and discovered. That way would give everybody a chance to get out there and find them, and nobody could hoard the 2009 rarities. Surprise!

 

Thats exactly what should've happened to this series. well said:

 

kEEP

When the Single cents goes away so will the concept of the single cent.

The nickel will follow soon after.

All spending will be though of "to the next tenth".

But the subversion has already begun. Just look at your computer keyboard folks. Anybody got one with a "Cent" icon on it?

 

The fascinating paradox of the cents now is that they are worth considerably less than the half cent coins were when they were eliminated in 1857. In fact, cents today are worth less in purchasing value than mill denominated tax tokens of the 1930s and 1940s.

Actually the lowest coin denomination that has some relative value really is the dime. Even nickels lately have cost more than they are worth to produce.

 

I thought the United States did away with the penny over 200 hundred years ago back in 1776.

Seriously though - I find it strange so many people advocate returning to a PM based currency in one breath - then advocates eliminating the two coins (cent & 5 cent) whose metal content value is almost par to its stated value.

 

Yes! it would be so nice if our money were actually worth what we pay for it. Its a shame the fluctuating metal markets make it impossible, if copper goes up and nickel goes down suddenly five pennies are more valuable than a nickel and problems start happening.

If we get rid of the penny I vote we get rid of the $1 note too. I want change that I can spend regularly for once, and if we have to resort to using dollar coins because of inflation I want on that boat. It would make coinage a big hit again imo.

 

Silver and Gold Standard anyone?!

A dime could be a dollar and so on. When a currency (in history) is backed by tangible assets the economy runs so much better, especially with less government control of the economy, but the later defeats the first today.

 

In 1929, our currency was backed by tangible assets. We were on a gold standard. And yet... el crasho.

I'm told there isn't enough gold in the world to keep pace with expanding economies.

 

If you read your history you will see that it was Hoover's economic policy that created the depression and it was FDR's polcies that prolonged the depression. This has nothing to do with the silver standard.

 

I'd like to see the cent dropped and replaced with a copper 5 cent piece, and maybe a 2 or 3 cent piece.

 

Right on, Brother! :thumb:

Meaningful coinage makes for more interesting coin collecting...(imho).

 

It is a cent, not a penny!@

 

To repeat, it is a cent, not a penny!@

 

Say that again. I didn't hear you......

 

Yes, that worked so well last time we tried it.

As far as the cent, I think it's time to get rid of it. Inflation has made it worthless and continually minting it is a waste of money. I know this presents a problem when calculating sales tax...but I'm sure that could easily be rounded to five cents with no noticeable loss to the consumer.

 

No need to be condescending.

I read quite a bit of history. It's quite likely I can read the same books as you and come to somewhat different conclusions.

Personally, I feel a gold standard is obsolete. Folks can fixate on it all they like. I invite 'em to fixate for decades then tell me how much has come of it.

 

The cent today has about 1/10th the value it did in the 1960's, in fact practically nothing can be purchased for a cent anymore. When and if you can find anything priced in cents it is some holdover from long ago.

In reality the smallest circulating coin in terms of minimal acceptable value is a dime. The dime is the lowest circulating coin that actually makes some profit for the mint also. The cent and nickel should be eliminated. People need to get over the fact that our money is losing value rapidly.

 

Keep the cent. It's not that hard to work with, and I like cash registers to calculate my bill with sales tax to the nearest cent. Those that don't like the cent can put them in the tray by the register or drop them on the ground where I'll pick them up.

I feel like I'd be giving extra money to the government by the rounding up process...With my luck, I'd go to ten different shops/stores and have all ten transactions rounded UP....

I bet charities--the ones with coin collection containers near a cash register--would see a reduction in donations...all those pennies add up for them.