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Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

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Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#11

Post by moolcool »

UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #5

Yes. Canada stopped producing pennies in the fall of 2012. [0] The sky didn't fall. There was no great debate, no public opinion polls and politicians swearing heartily about the demise of our great nation. (Ok that's probably not true. For too many politicians that's all they do.) There was resistance when Canada dropped the $1 bill in favour of a Loonie (a $1 coin with the image of a loon on it). People bitched abo…

I'm totally with us ditching the penny, but I really wish we had a paper (plastic) $1. Any time you break a $5 bill you're left with a pocket full of change!

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#12

Post by ShorsHammer »

moolcool wrote: post #11
UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #5

Yes. Canada stopped producing pennies in the fall of 2012. [0] The sky didn't fall. There was no great debate, no public opinion polls and politicians swearing heartily about the demise of our great nation. (Ok that's probably not true. For too many politicians that's all they do.) There was resistance when Canada dropped the $1 bill in favour of a Loonie (a $1 coin with the image of a loon on it). People bitched abo…

I'm totally with us ditching the penny, but I really wish we had a paper (plastic) $1. Any time you break a $5 bill you're left with a pocket full of change!

I honestly can't understand why any country on Earth is still using paper for notes. Is basic materials science some bizarre foreign concept?

And for anyone who thinks otherwise, I'm going for a swim with $300 in my pocket.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#13

Post by jlengrand »

I come from France, where we use pennies and live in the Netherlands where we don't.

It's always a great deal of fun seeing the family come over and try to hand over / or wait for their pennies after doing the groceries; struggling to really understand each other because of the language barrier.

There is something very charming about it .

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#16

Post by bruce511 »

UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #5

Yes. Canada stopped producing pennies in the fall of 2012. [0] The sky didn't fall. There was no great debate, no public opinion polls and politicians swearing heartily about the demise of our great nation. (Ok that's probably not true. For too many politicians that's all they do.) There was resistance when Canada dropped the $1 bill in favour of a Loonie (a $1 coin with the image of a loon on it). People bitched abo…

>> $0.01-$0.02 per transaction * millions of transactions per day has got to make some accountants happy.

You'd think, but actually no. That's because it's per transaction, so the accumulated amount is well pennies compared to the turnover.

For example, say you always rounded in favor of the company. That means an average of 2c gain per transaction. If you do 2 million transactions a day that's... 40 grand! yay. Except that if the average transaction is say $50 (which seems kinda low) that means your turnover for the day was $100 million.

So, in short, if you are making a lot from the rounding error, well you're making a lot lot from the actual sales.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#17

Post by nix23 »

ShorsHammer wrote: post #12
moolcool wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm totally with us ditching the penny, but I really wish we had a paper (plastic) $1. Any time you break a $5 bill you're left with a pocket full of change!

I honestly can't understand why any country on Earth is still using paper for notes. Is basic materials science some bizarre foreign concept? And for anyone who thinks otherwise, I'm going for a swim with $300 in my pocket.

Swiss-money is recycled plastic+paper, i even going to dive with 300sFr in my pocket, lots of hipster-micro-breweries down there...but crackers are not allowed.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#18

Post by pottspotts »

About 10 years ago my friends and I made a Web site, removethepenny.com (no longer active) and starting calling around to see who would support us. I recall speaking to someone who was very angry that we cared so little for the metal industry.

I think this has been known for a long time but special interests have kept it on life support for obvious reasons.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#19

Post by zeepzeep »

ShorsHammer wrote: post #12
moolcool wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm totally with us ditching the penny, but I really wish we had a paper (plastic) $1. Any time you break a $5 bill you're left with a pocket full of change!

I honestly can't understand why any country on Earth is still using paper for notes. Is basic materials science some bizarre foreign concept? And for anyone who thinks otherwise, I'm going for a swim with $300 in my pocket.

> I'm going for a swim with $300 in my pocket.

Money isn't waterproof where you live?

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#20

Post by hinoki »

ShorsHammer wrote: post #12
moolcool wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm totally with us ditching the penny, but I really wish we had a paper (plastic) $1. Any time you break a $5 bill you're left with a pocket full of change!

I honestly can't understand why any country on Earth is still using paper for notes. Is basic materials science some bizarre foreign concept? And for anyone who thinks otherwise, I'm going for a swim with $300 in my pocket.

In this case paper means polymer. Canada uses the same bills as Australia (and that the U.K. is switching to).

Much better than in the USA, where their cloth money always feels like dirty laundry.

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