Thursday, January 15, 2009

Get rid of the penny

pennyYes, the penny should no longer be part of American life. Did you know that it costs more than a penny to produce one? (Heather and the kids did a tour of the Denver Mint last year and found this out.) Since this extra money comes out of the government, somewhere, it would save some money to not make them anymore.

My suggestion would be to round down 2c and under to zero and up 3c and over to 5c. Electronic transactions could continue to use non-zero and 5 cent increments.

6 comments:

Richard Lawry said...

And while we are at it, dollar bills need to go also. No other large country has a paper denomination worth so little. In Canada the smallest paper money is the 5 dollar bill.

An Arkie's Musings

Rob said...

I'm not sure if you spotted any of the .02 coins when you were over here, but no one uses them. I'm not sure why they even exist! I have a whole bag of them I'm taking to the bank as soon as I get around to it. They are so used to it you don't even count them. They take them and send you a slip in the mail a couple of days later with the amount on it.

Bob A said...

I so totally agree with you, Paul. I've been saying the same thing for years. Get rid of the copper Lincolns.

The Lone Beader® said...

I agree! But, don't do it before I roll the pennies I have collected in the mason jar on top of my stove.

Anonymous said...

As of April last year, all the one sen coins have not been used and they're using the same rounding system you thought of. I'm fine with it, less time to count out my change. But I still have at least RM5 worth of one sen coins. What to do? I'm hoping someday someone really crazy wants them on ebay for a lot of money! :)

Journeyman said...

I'm sure what you suggest is a system already employed in Australia. A country with colourful yet plastic paper money and yet the biggest coinage I have ever had to carry in my pockets.