I'm the guy that picks them up all the time. Last year I collected over $3.00 in cents and a few were wheaties. There are also people that throw away aluminum cans and plastic bottles - and all kinds of other perfectly good stuff. One man's trash is another's treasure. Just visit any auction house if you don't believe me. For the record, my uncle and I visited a coin show a few weeks ago and went to grab a burger afterwards. We found $14 in cash on the ground outside the car door and it paid for lunch. We'd have picked it up if it were just cents (pennies!). In summary, John Oliver is a real idiotic jackass and his numbers (for those that missed it) were showing statistics with the date of 1995 on them. I'd support getting rid of the cent - if we had a plan. This would also have to include a tax plan to cover the rounding, a return plan, and a plan on what they will do to round - since we have a fractional dollar based on 100. I don't see it happening any time soon - especially if the government is left in charge.
I remember when the minimum retail price of milk was controlled by government. Cumberland Farms wanted to undercut the other retailers, but because the price was fixed, when you bought milk, they gave you a token worth a few cents toward your next purchase. I wish I had saved some of those.
Do you remember when the cigarette packs came with a penny to make up the difference in buying from a vending machine. I think the cigs were 19 cents a pack and a cent was put inside to even it to so you could use two dimes. I'm not that old but some old timers told me that.
I started when they were 50 cents and gas was 28 cents. (What was I thinking, kids 20 years old think I'm older than dinosaur doo doo.)
We always get worked up over how much it costs to manufacture a one cent coin. So what does it take to make a 10-cent coin? 5 cents? Less? What about a quarter? maybe 10 cents? Or lets talk dollars, does it cost any more to make a one dollar bill versus a 100 dollar bill? Even if we are losing money making a one cent coin, we more than make up for it on all the other denominations. How much does it cost to make a hundred dollar bill?
I don't get worked up over it but it is my tax money that funds the U.S. Mint. You are correct that the dime, quarter, half and dollar coins make up the overage in what it actually cost to make a cent, BUT, how much more profit would the Mint make, that could go back into the general funds if this were not made any more. This is not exactly a good business model. Even Richard Pryor figured this kind of thing out in a Superman movie. I think if someone here that was good at math figured how many cents were made each year X 6 cents each the difference could buy you a nice vacation home, a tropical island, a Renoir painting, a flight to outer space on Branson's shuttle with a whole lot more left over. Just sayin'. Kind of reminds me that it costs less than $10.00 to make an I phone and then charge $600.00 for it. Now THAT's a good business model. I say stop the circulating cent and just keep making them for collectors to order from the Mint.
But if they stopped making pennies, the profit would be much bigger, causing less drain on the taxpayer.