Should the US kill its cent?

I thought so too but he isn't the only one I've talked to that says they just toss them into the garbage. "Not worth carrying around" is exactly what he said today while I was looking for WAM's from last week's boxes

 

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It may be extreme but there are a fair number of people who do just that, toss the cents in the trash. Not too much different from those that just toss them on the ground.

 

I like this idea and will add that if the Lincoln design were kept, I'd like to see it done only in copper - similar to what was done with certain 09's - but only if the original design were used. In 2010 I think the mint made a very wise decision in returning to using an obverse that actually resembles the man instead of keeping with the laughable effigy which had been used (and had grown progressively worse) for decades, but the zinc composition totally removes any level of romanticism from the coin IMO.

Although I am not a fan of the Lincoln cent (other than MPs) or the small cent in general, I would hate to see it done away with altogether.

 

I have thrown pennies in the garbage before.

 

As an addition - I also work with a D.C. cab driver who gives me all the coins that are left in his cab every week. This amounts to a couple bucks which are mostly cents. He says that people are always throwing their change on the floor in the back of his cab and that if he gives them change back that they specifically ask for no pennies.

 

Yes of course they should. Its been 155 years since the US dropped its lowest denomination coin. I don't think any other country on earth can claim that. Its simply economics, no big deal. When people earn 100 times more than people did in 1857, why are they so stupid to think the same monetary system should be in place?

Its simple, almost everyone LIKES mild inflation. Every year they can get a 3% raise, and think they are getting ahead. Yes, maybe the price of goods has also gone up 3% or more, but getting a few more nominal dollars in the paycheck makes a human feel good about themselves. Its just psychology. If you have mild deflation everyone screams bloody murder. Try lowering a check 3% every year, even if prices go down 3%, and see how quickly as a politician, you get voted out of office.

So, the government simply shoots for mild inflation, people feel good about themselves even though they are no better off, and we have to throw away the lowest denomination every 30-50 years. We are WAY overdue.

As for BBC's idea of keeping it for collector sets, sure, why not? They can restrike two centers, three centers, or whatever they want to sell to us. The cent simply costs the economy more than its worth nowadays, and is a blatant waste of taxpayer money.

 

My over filled jar of pennies doesn't approve of Conder101 and Bsowa1029 actions.

 

What actions? I didn't say I threw them away or on the ground. I just said that a lot of people do that. In fact I still pick them up off the ground when I see them. (And that isn't easy, the ground keeps getting further away.)

 

Glad to know it's not just me!

 

No sir, its not.

 

I am mistaken. So you're the competition I have for parking lot penny retrieval? Bring it on man.

 

I think I'll wait a while and see how things fare in Canada before I come up with an opinion. I imagine no one misses them up there yet, eh?

 

The biggest problem we have is that congress doesn't have the onions to do what's best for this country, they only do what the big campaign contributors want them to do.

 

Get rid of the itty bitty copper ones.

 

Junk the penny and make the collector issues in pure copper if you must have them in proof and mint sets.
I am all for shifting the decimal point but I don't think China would like it.
We owe them a Trillion dollars.
$ 1,000,000,000,000.00. I don't think they would go along with us paying only a hundred billion.
$ 100,000,000,000.00.

 

Shift the decimal point one place to the right and the $100,000.00
cash in my mattress becomes the equivalent of $1,000,000.00.
Your money in the bank continues to have the same value.
Fair?

 

Thanks! I have posted many coin photos that people seem to "like" and I don't post fluff or snide remarks riding or belittling other members (like Detecto)

 

The Chinese will be fine as long as the new billion dollars will buy what a trillion does today. The value is shifted on both sides of the ledger, but only the marker changes. If the problem is: A.) Nickels and cents cost more to make than face value, and B.) Paper dollars are less economical than coin dollars, but no one wants one, then a decimal shift makes perfect sense. It provides a currency that people are used to, in denominations that they are used to. The cent will have the purchasing power of a dime. If a cent cost 2.5 cent to make now, then revalued it would cost a quarter cent to make. New paper currency will need to be printed, but could be traded out in short order. A new $1.00 Hamilton, new $2.00 Jackson, new $5.00 Grant, and new $10.00 Franklin note would reduce the confusion. Loose and circulating coins would increase in value, but this would be more than offset by the reduced cost of having to maintain only 10% of the current circulating currency, and not having to honor the stacks of cash that didn’t make it to the laundry mat on time in Columbia. If doing away with the cent and nickel is what you want then fine. That leaves us with 2 circulating coins that people are willing to accept, the dime and the quarter. One day when no one is willing to pick up a dime, then I guess the only coins we’ll see will be in mint set.

 

Yes, because I've been hoarding them for a while now.

 

No, it would then cost 25 cents. If you move the decimal point for one thing, it must move it for everything.