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The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

cnn.com

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Re: The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

#181

Post by delecti »

mjd wrote: post #127
delecti wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the US properly got rid of pennies (instead of Trump just doing another end-run around congress, by ordering the Mint to stop making them, on shaky legal ground), the legislation could easily supersede those state laws.

I think this is wrong. As far as I can tell the relevant statute is 31 USC §5112, and it does not require the minting of all authorized coins: “(a) The Secretary of the Treasury *may mint* and issue only the following coins: ... (6) ... a one-cent coin that is 0.75 inch in diameter and weighs 3.11 grams.” (Emphasis mine) There may be another clause somewhere that requires the Treasury to issue all coins, but that see…

I addressed in another reply that "'none' is all that's necessary" is probably a defensible interpretation of the law (the more relevant portion being in 5111 rather than 5112), but the penny being explicitly listed makes it clearly not the intention of congress. That's why I said it's a "shaky" and not "baseless" legal ground. The law is clearly written with the expectation that there will be some, which is why Congress felt the need to pass the Coinage Act of 1857 to phase out the half cent.

I think we should get rid of the penny, but it's Congress's responsibility to do that, and they haven't. I'm opposed to Congress abdicating its power and responsibility like that.

Re: The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

#182

Post by kristopolous »

hrimfaxi wrote: post #3

I watched a video on the demise of the penny and its predicament was so succinctly explained: everyone gets pennies as change but few carry them around let alone spend them, so we are stuck producing ever more. One news outlet even did an "experiment" where they threw hundreds of pennies on the ground in a city on a busy morning and not one person stopped to pick any up.

I actually do that for numismatic reasons now. After today they will only increase in scarcity.

Not that I imagine they'll ever be valuable mind you... I should really just go and get $5 worth somewhere. That would satiate my desires

Re: The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

#183

Post by strbean »

saalweachter wrote: post #174
mattnewton wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

State and local taxes make this infeasible

Retailers don't, like, have to add sales tax on top of listed prices. They just have to pay it.

Now is our chance to switch to European style "you pay the price it says on the shelf"!

Re: The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

#185

Post by jrochkind1 »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #141

I'd say screw it, get rid of nickles and dimes as well. Quarters can stay, for now. It's a complete waste of money and time continuing to mint such low-value currency. It can't be used for just about anything. Unfortunately, I do see the problem with part of this. For a handful of items where it does matter, it will force people to use cards more if they want to avoid rounding. And the card providers already have a c…

A noticeable number of places around me in an urban area in the USA already now have signs up saying they won't make any coin change at all! Pay with a card, or exact change, or they'll round up to the dollar keep the difference.

Sometimes the sign says "due to the penny shortage" and has been up for a year or whatever, I dunno. But they aren't just not giving you pennies in your change, they are refusing any coins in your change. I am curious as to the motivation, I could guess but it's not obvious to me. They will still take coins as payment, just not give them as change.

Re: The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

#186

Post by Projectiboga »

nayuki wrote: post #20

We eliminated pennies in Canada in 2012 and the transition was a non-issue. The vast majority of retailers would round cash transactions to the nearest $0.05, but a few would round down to the nearest $0.05 in favor of the customer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_of_low-denomination... Canadian cash is better than American cash in several ways: No penny, durable polymer banknotes (instead of dirty wrinkly c…

The US has been moving to colored denominations for awhile now.

Re: The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

#187

Post by [deleted] »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #141

I'd say screw it, get rid of nickles and dimes as well. Quarters can stay, for now. It's a complete waste of money and time continuing to mint such low-value currency. It can't be used for just about anything. Unfortunately, I do see the problem with part of this. For a handful of items where it does matter, it will force people to use cards more if they want to avoid rounding. And the card providers already have a c…

[deleted]

Re: The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

#188

Post by bogeholm »

mattnewton wrote: post #159
nofriend wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

just make the price a multiple of five cents

State and local taxes make this infeasible

> State and local taxes make this infeasible

I don’t see why that would be the case? In my country, most prices with VAT (which is what you’re charged) are nice, round numbers, but not the price without VAT.

I suppose the stores set a target price, and then adjust it a bit to make the price + VAT a “nice” number.

Is there a reason that couldn’t be done to make all prices + VAT multiples of 5c?

Re: The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

#189

Post by spiderice »

nayuki wrote: post #20

We eliminated pennies in Canada in 2012 and the transition was a non-issue. The vast majority of retailers would round cash transactions to the nearest $0.05, but a few would round down to the nearest $0.05 in favor of the customer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_of_low-denomination... Canadian cash is better than American cash in several ways: No penny, durable polymer banknotes (instead of dirty wrinkly c…

Better is very subjective here. I hate the colorful, plastic, canadian money. It feels toyish, like monopoly money. Whereas USD feels much more nice to deal with.
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