Why do we still mint cents?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by cplradar, Apr 30, 2021.

  1. cplradar

    cplradar Talmud Chuchum

    I keep thowing them into jars. I am running out of jars.
     
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  3. Santinidollar

    Santinidollar Supporter! Supporter

    The zinc lobby.
     
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  4. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    I know , it's Crazy !!! :arghh: I'm going Nuts .:hilarious:
    IMG_20210419_082256769_HDR.jpg
     
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  5. AZSteve

    AZSteve Well-Known Member

    I think a lot of people, especially the penny-pinchers, think that if pennies are gone the sellers will raise prices, even if only to the next even nickel, on every item in the store. That, and we've always had pennies, and the general public probably doesn't know that the government is loosing money on every penny and nickel produced.

    I'd say, leave pricing as-is. And if you're paying with cash, the final price (including tax) should be rounded to the nearest nickel, so if the last digit in the total is 8,9,0,1,2 it's rounded to 0, and if the last digit is 3,4,5,6,7 it's rounded to 5.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2021
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  6. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

    I think for those of us who grew up with the inflation of the 1970s, there is a natural suspicion of anything which rings of a return to inflation. The shift away from 90% silver money in 1964 (and the 40% silver half in 1970) was a recent memory. Even though the removal of the silver coinage didn't cause the subsequent inflation, it felt as it it were a sign that the government had given up on seriously combatting inflation.

    Anyway, the US cent is too small a value to be of much practical use, but whatever administration discontinues it will probably be blamed for the inflation which is likely to follow. The poor unloved cent is a canary in the coal mine for future inflation, even though it won't be the cause.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2021
  7. norantyki

    norantyki CoinMuncher

    Cause congress said so... From the treasury website:

    "As the United States Mint produces the coins that Congress mandates, it does not have the authority to abolish a unit of currency. If directed to do so by legislation enacted by the Congress and signed by the President, the Treasury Department would again study phasing out the penny."
     
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  8. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    The pandemic has sped up the process of going to what is close to a cashless economic system. Over the past year, I can count on one hand the number of times that I have used cash or coins. I pay for almost everything with credit cards.

    I don’t even write that many checks. Part of the reason for that is because the post office has become less reliable. When you sent a first class letter these days, you never know when or if it will get there.
     
  9. Robert Ransom

    Robert Ransom Well-Known Member

    The post office has become less reliable. When you sent a first class letter these days, you never know when or if it will get there.
    The post office has become less reliable. When you sent a first class letter these days, you never know when or if it will get there.
    The post office has become less reliable. When you sent a first class letter these days, you never know when or if it will get there.
     
  10. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

  11. Treashunt

    Treashunt The Other Frank


    ditto.
     
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  12. MIGuy

    MIGuy Supporter! Supporter

    It's the lobbyists from "Big Jar" who are behind it!!!!
     
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  13. Robert Ransom

    Robert Ransom Well-Known Member

    I thought it a subtle way to state, "You can say that again" and again and again.
    I guess I succeeded.
     
  14. Jim-P

    Jim-P Well-Known Member

    As an inveterate collector/hoarder, I've been putting aside pre-82 cents for years. Still working my way through a bunch of rolls of shiny post-81s from back when I was roll-hunting in the late 80s, so everyday I make sure I have at least ten pennies in my change purse.

    Just round everything to the nearest dollar and get rid of clumsy coins altogether.
     
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  15. John Burgess

    John Burgess Well-Known Member

    We are never getting rid of the cent, just never gonna happen same goes for the nickel.

    All you hoarders looking to cash in on melt value are gonna have to sit on your pile until you die or return them to circulation and call it a day.

    By the way they wouldn't have to make so many each year if people weren't hoarding them and if they didn't have to make so many each year maybe the cost for the material to make them would come down some also.

    So keep tossing them in jars letting them pile up, there will be more and more year after year. Lol

    Maybe we round everything to the nearest $100.00 and get rid of everything else below it. Just nip it in the eventual bud, then we can complain about inflation when it cost's $100 to buy anything because there's no change to make and think back that it all started with getting rid of the cent and rounding to the nickel which also is a money loser so then round to a dime, yada yada yada until the dollar has the buying power of the old Peso.
     
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  16. cplradar

    cplradar Talmud Chuchum

    they aren't hording them. They are ignoring them.
     
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  17. cplradar

    cplradar Talmud Chuchum


    I not only find the Post Office unreliable, but I have never lost a letter because of the post office... ever. Aside from that, I seriously would second think the proposition that an unreliable post office is propelling us to a cashless society :) - If anything their reliability is propelling us into cashlessness as we buy more and more on line....delivered by USPS.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2021
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  18. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    I never had a problem until the last year or so. I had one check that mailed to a dealer take three weeks to get there. This was from Florida to Michigan. My wife has had Christmas and birthday cards take similar amounts of time to reach their destinations.

    So far as overseas mail, we have had that take three months or more. Getting Christmas cards in April is not unusual.

    Three years ago Heritage mailed the Winter FUN show auction catalogs to at the usual time in December. I didn't get them until I came home from the show in January.
     
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  19. Robert Ransom

    Robert Ransom Well-Known Member

    Within the past 6 months, my cable payment and cc payment werebe mandat late arriving and the two companies charged me interest. I called them and they rescinded the charges. Both want me to sign up for automatic withdrawal, but I refuse. At some point in time, I suspect this payment method will become mandatory.
     
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  20. masterswimmer

    masterswimmer A Caretaker, can't take it with me

    No need for auto withdrawal. All you need to do is set up bill pay with your bank. No more checks to write. No more stamps to buy (or much much less stamps). No more waiting/hoping for the letter/check to be delivered.

    Bill pay has been awesome, without relinquishing the control of funds being dispersed by someone just taking it from your account. You receive your bill/statement/invoice and make the payment at your convenience. I even pay my local landscaper to mow my lawn with bill pay. Just the savings in postage has made it worthwhile.
     
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  21. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I've always wondered how many cents are sitting in jars, coffee cans, etc., in peoples homes. Instead of minting more cents, maybe the gov should come up with incentives for people to turn in their hoards. Then again, as we become a more and more cashless society the same can probably be said for other denominations.
     
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