Assume for a moment that the US Mint will cease to strike the cent. (Don't argue about it here!) Would it be permissible for merchants to issue tokens of a 1 cent value? Why? Why not?
I think everyone will just round up to the nearest nickel. Civil War tokens were issued when the cent could still buy something. I suppose it would be legal to produce a token or paper bill with a monetary value because it wouldn't be any different from a coupon. But these days it would probably just annoy people.
Probably true. But it could make an effective advertising program, particularly if a large company were to take it up. Coke cents, the next collecting phenomenon.
I think we would just round to the nickel. I say scrap the nickel out of circulation also. It takes a hand full of nickels to buy anything anyway. It still amuses me when I can pick up cents in the break room and the parking lots because someone did feel like they were valuable enough to bother with. Even better is hearing someone say that they wouldn't bother to pick up a cent if they saw it, almost like it would be an embarrassment to be seen doing that. Crazy Man!!! Allen
As I recall shortly after the Civil War a law was passed declaring private tokens illegal to produce if they were made with the intent (and actually used) to subsititute for genuine US coins in circulation. (I'm sure someone here has the details, including whether or not it's still in effect). However it would still be legal I think as long as it wasn't intended to circulate and only be redeemed by its issuer. I think you're right though, if they got rid of the penny they'd probably just round to the nearest nickel in cash transactions. Australia and New Zealand do this. (Well until New Zealand got rid of their 5 cent piece too; now NZ rounds all cash transactions ot the nearest ten cents.) The one cent denomination would still be able to exist in account in check, credit card, direct bank transfer, etc., just not in cash.
Just like the "mil" aka "mill" aka "mille" does now. (And if you have ever bought gasoline, you have purchased a commodity priced in mils!)
i had to write an essay on the effects of the penny being done away with on the AP history exam last year, it sprang from the new design rumor, i said that as humans we count in 1,2,3,4,5,6... not 5,10,15,20, or even 10,20,30, that we need a ones place to keep our sanity
Assuming the Mint ceases to produce the cent, (which will not happen at least this year) There will still be billions and billions of US Cents in circulation that are still legal tender. Don't forsee any private tokens.
Well, we have coupons and gift cards and traveler's checks and food stamps and store credit and trading stamps and cards punched everytime you purchase coffee that can eventually be redeemed. These are all forms of "near money." I would think it would be okay for a store to offer tokens under the existing trading stamp laws as long as they are redeemable in merchandise and carry a legend such as "1 point" instead of one cent. But there probably wouldn't be any point to it other than the gimmick and marketing value.
when the US ceased production of the half cent in 1857 it had a purchasing power of about 33 cents in todays money which left the cent all alone with a purchasing power of roughly 66 cents of todays money. If we went by the standards of 1857 the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter would most likely be abolished. Food for Thought.
Food for thought indeed. The purchasing power of a cent back in those days was quite different from todays purchasing power. A few merchants that I deal with just "round off" to the nearest 5 cents. Back in "token time" try and do that. As I remember you could openly carry handguns back then without a licence...."rounding off" I am sure would make for quite a spirited exchange back then.
From what I understand, there has been some talk of doing away with both the cent and the nickel and bring out a half dime again. Not really sure how doing away with the nickel and producing a half dime is going to save the mint money, but that is latest talk that I have heard. Dave
As mentioned making tokens for circulation is illegal. Making a token that is only good in the business that issues it would be legal (This is why casino chips are legal. They only have value in the casino that issues them and the other casinos will not accept them. At one time the casinos wer more easygoing about it and did accept each others chips but the Feds came down on them and threatened charges if they didn't stop it. That was the end of the cross casino use.), but who wants to carry different "money" from each shop they do business with?
Never thought of it like that. Remember the Plaid stamps. S&H Green Stamps? And yes I have a pile of cards that you get punched when you buy stuff at some places and get someting FREE for a completed card. Just got a White Castle one yesterday. Filled card gets you a free something. All the same as money, which is the same as cash you know.
And to carry this further some time back I remember taking my kids to a place called Chuck-E-Cheese or something like that. Same with a place called Show-Biz-Pizza. Both had thier own money in coins. My kid used to save them instead of turning them in for prizes. Same as money. Wonder how many remember the real Mills. Relatives in Missouri when I was a kid gave me some. Still have them. They were 1/10th and 1/2 of a cent types. Some were plastic, some metal. Some green and some red. Supposed to be used for taxes so that if your bill at a store was $5.97 and there was a $0.005 sales tax you could use those Mills. Naturally the government fixed that by simple raising all sales taxes. Note at a bank you get xx amount in interest. Does it ever come out exact? Who gets the extra when your interest is in less than a cent now? All this would be similar if the cent was stopped. You would just either get things rounded up or down. Or possibly just get a coin made for Chuck-E-Cheese instead.
It would be much smaller than the nickel and therefore much less expensive to produce because of the savings in metal costs.
they could slow down on production, only release it in mint set, there are plenty of pennies in the world, if we throw them out we will eventually get to where something is the lowest at one, probably the dollar
