The Future Of The US One Cent (Penny)

It passed that point several years ago.



Sure, you see they have these things called nickels.....


Last year after almost a year of study looking for a new material for the cent to make it profitable again (when it already cost more than a cent in labor and overhead to make each one.) they decided they needed more time. So they got another year. This December they will either ask for another year or admit it can't be done. If they say it can't be done then in 2014 they will debate what to do about it. When they come to the decision it will be too late for it to be done before 2015, so the earliest I see the cent going away would be 2016. Only something like 14 or 15 years after they started losing money on every one they made.

When they do that, I hope they also realize how much money they are losing by keeping the one dollar note in circulation.

As slow as politicians work (meetings,studies,consulting with constituents) it will be years if ever the cent will be removed. So don't hold your breath. I can be assured of many more years of roll searching for errors. he he

Where and when did you hear this? Where is your source? Because I know of some weirdo (and I am NOT by any means calling "you" a weirdo by saying this) that kept "predicting the $1 bill's demise, giving out a year every so often, and it has never happened.





While they're at it, I hope that they realize how much they could save by eliminating nickels, and quarters and start using 20 cent coins the sis of the current nickel, and make the half the size of the quarter and use that as well, and how about $2 and $5 coins instead of wasting money on $5 bills that wear out faster than $1 bills and $2 bills that will also wear out faster than $1 bills when the $1 bill is terminated. And LAAAAST and CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, :Drum roll please!: let's not forget how much reissuing $500 and $1,000 bills would save even more on printing less $100 bills and also, for the first time in U.S. history (since the George W. Bush version, anyway) add a $200 bill into the mix, to save even more money on printing less of those expensive $100 bills. (And please, let's not make a $quadrillion.1trillion mistake on the new $1,000 bills like the $1.1 billion mistake we made on the new $100 bills.

Isn't someone filling a U.S.A type set entirely with counterfeits?

True but they are already ten years into loosing money on every coin, and there has been some discussion about the problems with the cent as far back as 1974. it only took eight years to go from discussing an aluminum cent to approving the copper plated zinc cent. That's why after two years of studying alternate materials and realizing that the cent CAN'T be made profitably no matter what it is made of, (A study that should have taken all of twenty minutes) it will only take them two or maybe three years to finally decide to give up and eliminate it.



Which part are you referring to? The material study is well known. They were to release their finding and make their recommendations last December. Instead they said they needed more time to study the matter. Their new report is due this coming December. The rest is my own speculation. I assume that even with a clear statement that the cent can't be made without losing money Congress will still debate the matter for at least a year or more so. So there would be no change in 2014 or 2015 Remember the contracts for the blanks are settled often a year or more in advance so even if they acted swiftly the blanks for 2015 would probably already be contracted for.). I said elimination of the cent probably would not come any earlier than 2016. I did not say that it WOULD be eliminated in 2016, just that I don't see it happening before that date.

I'm still using Cents every day as yet, but some of the places giving cash discounts do lower the price so the cash buyer pays an even amount, after taxes.

For example, the card swiper pays $200 before tax, but the cash buyer pays $186.57 + $13.43 tax (@7.2%) = $200.00 even.

"And regarding the "1-2% cash back","

Such a scam we are falling into, you use CC, you might get some cash back but they marked the item up XX%, honestly say I can't live without it (yes, the CC even though I barely use it, paypal is my other friend). Still, the CC company gets a cut, such a great way for us to funnel a little up to the 1% in exchange for the so often used service. The 1-2% cash back is the 1-2% extra you are already paying that they tack onto the cost of whatever you bought, so screw your 1-2%, it's just a giveback that does not add up until you just flat out use CC for everything, which is exactly what they want, slowly feeding the 1% - give me more. Great rant thread..

Not sure about the future of the penny, I guess the plan is to keep it around.