Should the cent be kept?

I know it's not a money maker, and doesn't have the longest "life", but I still like the Dollar Bill - and don't really want to have to carry coins instead of foldable money if I have a choice.

 

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How many ones do you carry on average? I usually have about five, and thats just so I can get stuff from the vending machines at work.

In reality, I would like the cent to stay around. Sure, it hasn't been able to buy anything as a single coin for about 60 years, but neither has a dollar. I was just using the elimination of the dollar bill in addition as a way to illustrate the similarities between the two in regards to their need versus cost.
Guy

 

If they made $1 & $2 coins out of an aluminum alloy by adding a little of a metal for strength and durability, you could have about $10 worth in your pocket and almost not know it.

Like someone else mentioned, even if they stopped producing the cent, there would still be hundreds of billions of them still in circulation.

I think they should resurrect James Earle Fraser's design for the nickel.

Chris

 

Now theres an idea I would support! And why stop there...a complete re-design of our boring coinage would be nice.
Guy

 

But the nickel loses more money per coin than the cent. Both current coins cannot continue. I go back to my proposal of a copper plated zinc 5 cent piece, and simply make current cents valued at 5 cents so it would be an easy transition. We really have been spoiled in this country by not dropping a low denomination in over 140 years. Most countries do not have that luxury, and changed coins more often, so they are simply bewildered by US provincial thoughts towards the idea.

Go into a bar in Germany and you are in danger of a "pfenning check", meaning if you don't have a pfenning you owe a round to everyone. Even before the Euro they hadn't produced pfennings in decades, bar attendees simply buy one from a coin dealer so they don't owe a round.

 

Maybe they could get Kathy Griffin to model for a modern SLQ. She likes to take her clothes off in public.

Chris

 

Make them from aluminum. It is the most abundant metallic element on the planet.

Chris

 

It probably won't be done, but one solution would be to do away with both the cent and the nickel and replace it with a 2 cent piece. Keep the previous coins in circulation for 2-3 years, and then place free coin machines in places so any cents and nickels that people want to return for destruction (the gov't can cull out the recyclable materials) and offer a premium for it. Yes, some numismatic items will be included in that, but you can't stop the destruction of all of them (think natural disasters, etc). A lot of people hoarding the pre-1982 cents will be glad to get rid of them for 2.5 cents/per if they can, and nickels at about 7 cents each. At the same time, about two years in, design a lightweight dollar coin that is not so large as currently and is made of a cheaper metal, possibly one similar to many coins in europe that are bi-metal. Put some really nice classic designs on it, instead of going with the presidential stuff. Stop minting half dollars.
Take out the 2 and 10 dollar bills initially, having two fives will be enough to replace the tens and the 2's we can do without. Then start a 2 dollar coin, and remove the 1 dollar bill from minting.

What say you folks to this remedy? Within about 10 years we would be left with a system of 2 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, 1 dollar, 2 dollar coins. Bills would be 5 dollars, 20 dollars, 50 dollars, 100 dollars.

 

Sounds plausible, Kasia, except I'd say leave the ten and ditch the 100. Tens are useful, whereas mast places now won't accept a 100 dollar bill. I think the 100 is destined for the same fate as the 1000 and higher bills. It used to be a convenient way to travel with money, but now people don't take a wallet full of 100's...they take a single plastic card and it's good all over the world. I think paper-wise we could get by with 5, 10, and 20's and be just as happy.

Of course, people have been discussing this for as long as I've been collecting, and as you can see, instead of eliminating denominations they've just added more coins to the same ones. Remember, the government doesn't budget smartly because it's not their money..it's yours!
Guy

 

That is so true!

 

I use nothing but C-notes in the Vegas slot machines. One year I went out with $10K in my wallet, and the stew on the plane thought I was airsick because I was leaning into the aisle.

Chris

 

Yes. But only if its produced with a steel core instead of the more expensive (and toxic) zinc core.

 

Since it cost more to make than it's worth I think that the cent should just be included in collectors sets. Since the Mint charges way more than face value and probably way more than the cost to manufacture the coin no money would be lost on the cent. Just my opinion

 

I think 100 dollar bills are still quite useful.

 

Umm, that must be a very different Germany from the one where I live. We used those pfennig coins every day until the very end of the DM. The mints stopped producing pfennig pieces (and all other DM denominations) in late 1996, but that was only because five years later they would be replaced by euro cash anyway.

And today we have all those 1 and 2 cent coins ... Wish we would do what our Dutch neighbors have done: round cash totals so that the two lowest denominations are not necessary any more.

Christian

 

Today, more and more people use plastic Debit cards that banks are giving _everyone_. How much money would the government save by switching solely to a form of debit card and eliminating both currency and coinage? I can see it coming in 20 years or so as the newer generation is separated more and more from our past history. Another question, how much more money would the government make if we switched to a form of plastic debit cards and income & sales taxes were simply "debited"? Monitoring by overseers of the treasury would be easier, and also easier to monitor illegal (drug) activity.
I am totally against these scenarios as they lead us closer to the mark of the beast and all. But eliminating some coins may lead to eliminating more coins.
Also introducing the Amero will certainly lead to some hyperinflation, even more that we may experience with the Dollar scheme.
The Euro is failing, the Amero will too.
"Save the Penny!"

 

Anybody else notice the the orginal 1¢ coin was copper and about the same size as today's copper Prez. $ coin.:yes:

 

The original 1c, I think, had the same purchasing power as todays $1.

 

Any coin that can be regularly found in a supermarket parking lot should be discontinued. :thumb:

That would be the penny, nickel, and dime.

 

I don't see the US going into the Amero at all. We have too many differences to have a union of the three countries Canada, US, and Mexico going into one currency. It's very different from the concept of the Euro, as the European countries are generally much smaller than the three in North America, and the way that people in Europe look at travelling (by train) between countries is much different from how travel between the US and Canada and Mexico is.

We don't even need to buy into the Euro, as generally, the US money is looked upon favorably by other countries, and is easy enough to trade into their currency when you are over there, assuming you bring in crisp newer-issue bills.