Do You Think That The US Mint Should Keep Making Pennys

Maybe there will be a donation drive for hoarded pennies to finance the Mars mission.

Inflation is going to happen with or without the cent. Things that were priced $9.99 ten years ago are $11.99 now. They will be $13.99 ten years from now.

Even if the physical cent goes away, it will still exist electronically. Prices will remain x.99 because of psychology. Just like gasoline is x.999 per gallon. Works just fine without a mill in our pocket, just as it will continue to work without cents.

We got rid of the Half Cent at a time when it would buy what fifteen cents does today. Somehow we survived.

How many of us are paying with exact change now, keeping our received cents and using them properly on the next transaction? Not many. Most of us just toss our change aside every day, that is, if we even use cash at all.


So, you prefer our tax dollars going to subsidize a failing denomination?

Half dollars and dollar (coins) are already "gone" in that they are NIFC (not issued for circulation). For the record, I would like cents to go NIFC (and not go away completely) so we can still fill our album holes. Of course, there is no reason an NIFC cent cannot be 95% copper.


Agreed.

http://goccf.com/t/284480 -- John McCain and Mike Enzi reintroduce the Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Saving Act "...would modernize our currency by moving to a $1 dollar coin, reduce the cost of nickel production and suspend the minting of the penny..."


Other countries have done just fine.

No reason to since they will still psychologically still help increase sales, and the rounding to the nearest 5 cents is done after the sales tax is applied. If one store raises theirs to $10 his competitor will keep his at $9.98 and be able to advertise that you can save money by buying from him.



Yes, they do. They cost well less than their face value to make, and since they are now "collector" coins the mint sell them for MORE than their face value. Take the Native American dollar. I haven't checked recently to see what the actual cost to make them is but say it is safely below 20 cents. So for this year they have sold 1.8 million 2018 NA dollars that cost them $360,000 to make and which they have sold for $2,520,000 a profit of $2.16 million. And they make even more on the ones in the proof and mint sets. Now they AREN'T making as much as they used to back when they made them for circulation. Back then they represented something like $350 to $400 million added to the bottom line. But hey a $2.16 million dollar profit is better then the $50 million loss they take on the one cent pieces.



Done right you should probably never have more than two of them in your pocket. If you have 1 euro you have 1 coin, 2 euros 1 coin, 3 euros 2 coins, 4 euros 2 coins, 5 euros a banknote no coins. Likewise if we got rid of the dollar note there would never be a reason to have more than a single dollar coin in your pocket because the production of twos would increase. One dollar in your pocket would be one coin, $2 would be a $2 note, three would be a coin and $2 note, four would be two $2 notes.

Conder1,
Thanks for the data. I have a better perspective now. Rationally, I understand I have a minority viewpoint, and from the standpoint of pure logic, a business would not purposely run production of an item at a loss without an overriding reason.
But stepping back from the debate, as a practical matter I currently use a credit card for virtually all purposes. I rarely carry more than $40-$50 in cash, and never carry coins, so I don't even get change very often. As a pure matter of preference, I will never use a dollar coin because I really don't like carrying change. But that's my personal choice. Mathematically you are correct, there are ways to venture out into the world starting with a minimal and optimal of coins in your pocket. The problem I always encountered was leaving for the day with only bank notes in my wallet and returning at the end of the day with a handful of Euro or Pound coins in my pocket received in change.
All that said, credit cards and other electronic transactions are likely to replace physical money entirely, sooner, rather than later, Star Trek foresaw that in the 1960s where everyone used credits instead of money. Maybe some day scientists will get around to inventing Dr. McCoy's Feinberg. Maybe the humble penny will be the first denomination to fall, as you have all given valid reasons why it should be.
That might make the most fiscal sense. But, unfortunately it could relegate numismatics to specialty antique status. Nowadays, people use and are familiar with coins from use in everyday life. In thirty or so years most people won't know what coins are. I have trouble seeing the hobby becoming attractive to newcomers who have never had a chance to sort through their change. The value of our collections could plummet due to decreased interest and demand.
As for pricing and the impact on consumers, I just can't see things working in the consumer's favor because they never do. I hope that you are right and that my cynicism is unfounded. But my doubts come from observation and experience.
Let's agree to disagree. If we were physically in the same place, I'd offer to buy you a beer and shoot the breeze about coins of other denominations, or sports or something else to give a break from the subject of pennies.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and to anyone else who reads this.

Stop minting pennies and the TV hawkers will be selling the last year mint rolls for $50...can't wait to phone my order in.

KK