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Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

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Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#21

Post by nix23 »

ThePadawan wrote: post #6

I moved from a country that has pennies (Germany, so EUR cents) to one that doesn't (Switzerland, CHF) age 18. The smallest coin is 0.05CHF. It's still worth enough that you might use a handful of them to make change for a small amount like, say, 0.40CHF. Grocery prices either have a resolution of 0.05CHF (all major retailers) or if not, your bill will be rounded to a resolution 0.05CHF to the customers advantage (e.…

But the foifraepller is still more expensive to manufacture the it's own worth.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#22

Post by smichel17 »

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.

At least in the US, bills are much different from regular printer paper, closer to fabric. As long as you're not taking them for a swim regularly, they should be fine. (That said, when I've lived in Germany, I very much enjoyed the existence of €1 and €2 coins -- I've written about it on here before, if you're willing to scroll very far back in my post history).

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#23

Post by stan_rogers »

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.

"Us" in this case is Canada, and we've had polymer notes for years. And it's not at all unusual for people to still call it "paper money" because it had been paper for so very long. Heck, we still call the stuff we use to wrap and protect things "tin foil" even though it's been aluminum for my entire life (and new consumer electronics were still being made with vacuum tubes/thermionic valves, with tube testers in every hardware and drug store, when I was a kid).

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#24

Post by moolcool »

zeepzeep wrote: post #19
ShorsHammer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Canada (and many other countries) has polymer bills

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#25

Post by einpoklum »

I really like it that they offer you, instead of a site with a lot of junk and JS, a plain text version! That's much nicer news than the story itself :-)

... that said - why _don't_ you guys cancel the penny?

> Penny defenders' strongest argument was that eliminating it would hurt consumers. All those $9.99 products? The prices would be jacked up to an even $10!

That sounds like an argument made up retroactively to try to justify something. Seriously?

1. The time and effort to handle penny change costs more.

2. Those bargain prices will become $9.95 , and some other prices will rise slightly to compensate; or not.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#27

Post by latch »

nordsieck wrote: post #8
fit2rule wrote: post #3

Why kill it? Why not just re-value it instead? For example, make its value $1000. Would maybe be a neat solution to the 1% problem.

> Why not just re-value it instead? > For example, make its value $1000. The US used to have $1000 bills (and $10,000 bills, but those were only for internal gov't use). I'm pretty sure we're stuck with $100 as the top denomination to make organized crime more difficult. Also, it's WAY easier to counterfeit a coin than a bill.

Singapore & Brunei (1) had a $10000 bill until 2014 (worth ~7400 USD), and still have a $1000 bill (as does Switzerland with its better exchange rate)

(1) I don't know what the word is (linked?) but their currency is interchangeable. You can go to a Singapore bank with $100 BND and get $100 SGD (no fee) and vice versa.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#28

Post by mc32 »

einpoklum wrote: post #25

I really like it that they offer you, instead of a site with a lot of junk and JS, a plain text version! That's much nicer news than the story itself :-) ... that said - why _don't_ you guys cancel the penny? > Penny defenders' strongest argument was that eliminating it would hurt consumers. All those $9.99 products? The prices would be jacked up to an even $10! That sounds like an argument made up retroactively to t…

Yeah but what will the gas pumps do? Their prices are “$3.29.9” per gallon, do they Mae it “$3.29.5“ now?

Personally yeah, I don’t think we need pence.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#29

Post by jhoechtl »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #14

Go further. I haven't used coins in 10 years. Get coins - put them all in the 'penny tray'. Or give them to the cashier. Or hand them to somebody nearby. All else fails, toss them in the trash as I leave the store.

Trashing money is illegal and sounds very unethical to me.

Re: Is It Time to Kill the Penny?

#30

Post by [deleted] »

einpoklum wrote: post #25

I really like it that they offer you, instead of a site with a lot of junk and JS, a plain text version! That's much nicer news than the story itself :-) ... that said - why _don't_ you guys cancel the penny? > Penny defenders' strongest argument was that eliminating it would hurt consumers. All those $9.99 products? The prices would be jacked up to an even $10! That sounds like an argument made up retroactively to t…

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