Lincoln Cents

Does anyone actually use pennies anymore? I say ditch them and maybe make a circulated 50 cent piece.

quote Scoutjim99: "well thinking as a Tax payer I would agree with Andrew289 but as a coin collector I hate to see them go"

Scoutjim, I would miss them too, but when you consider the buying power of the denomination when it was originally issued (200+) years ago, vs. what it can purchase today, I don't think there's much to decide. Keeping the cent and the nickel in 2007 would be the equivalent of issued coins valued at 1/100 of a cent or a nickel back in 1800. Sure I'm using round figures for purposes of illustration, but our currency denominations clearly need to be revamped to catch up with the times.

The rounding works out both ways 0.06 and 0.07 are rounded down, and 0.07 and 0.09 are rounded up, so statistically you should end up paying the same. Also, the rounding is applied to the total, so the most you ever end up paying extra here is $0.02, on the flipside you can end up paying $0.02 less.

So much of the rest of the world has gone through this process that it takes just a few hours to figure out that the next effect on the economy is zero. Given that you accept this argument the next argument raised is always:

'but there will be profiteering, if given the choice a retailer will change an old $0.96 price to $1.00 to get a few cents more'

Well in this case market forces will sort it out. If retailer A just changes his $0.96 price point to $1.00 then the free market dictates that someone will either leave it at 0.96 or go down to 0.95 to try to win more business.

The other thing to consider here is that the USA used to have 1/2cents, the UK used to have 1/2 penny (even 1/4 pennies). All these denoms were dropped, and guess what? No economic collapse, the countries still exist.

When I hear stories of people in the USA throwing cents away because it's just too much trouble I cringe. Getting rid of the cent is the only sensible thing to do. People who have considered all the factors rationally and then still say it will cause economic collapse are clearly in the tin foil hat brigade and shouldn't be listened to.

"To believe that in the short term there would not be some adverse conditions is a little myopic"

There may well be localized adverse conditions (ie your milk price may go up and you wont be happy about it). However Nationally I would be stunned if it even showed up as the slightest blip. It certainly didn't here or in the UK or the EU.

Hi Jim,

Well I think your country will be better off doing it. 5 years after the change you'll look back and wonder why you kept the cent for so long after all!

Mark

Keep it. Keep it. Keep it. Ya gotta admit they are cheap enough to actually collect. Just tell the mint to make less than 50 million or so, each of a different design. (Business strikes not bogus proofs at a profit). Perhaps change the reverses at the different mints instead of adding mintmarks. Put Geronimo or another Chief on the coin. Anything to make them more interesting and collectible. Goofy would make sense.

How many collectors out there got started as kids with the lowly cent? Who could afford more. Coin collectors should boycott all mint products if the Gov. dumps the cent.

My first Cherrypick was a 1955 DDO cent...Yes that one.. I was in first grade. It was 1959. I started in 1957... collecting cents. I am still at it.

Will my children and grandchildren be collectors?

Dump the politicians and keep the Cent.