What If The Penny Was Discontinued?

Exactly Broseph. Why do we have coinstar? Because people prefer bills over coins! The one dollar bill is arguably the most essential piece of our monetary system, a predominant dollar coin would be too bulky and disliked by the public. This would be a failure, since saving money or not, if people like bills, then give them bills.

Yes, nalaberong. I'd say the ignorance of the public, American, Canadian, or otherwise, is something we can all agree on. A few extra grams in my wallet from a dollar coin isn't going to hurt me or anyone else.

You're right, as a nationalist, it is my duty to dedicate myself to the greater good of my country. As a numismatist, it is my duty to dedicate myself to getting another Wheat penny into its 2x2!

Actually the US did reclaim mass quantities of coins, some silver, and many gold before going off the gold standard and when cancelling the Gold and Silver Certificate redemption. Though here it was voluntary and not required by law that could be enforced in any real way, except for those St Gaudens (sp) that left the mint without permission in 1933? Forget which gold dollar it was, but there is an article about it somewhere that it is illegal to own some of the gold coins made by the mint as they were not for release and escape the mint somehow. so that is one circulation recall/reclaim, and one improper acquisition reclaim of coins in the USA.




hope this quoting works, can't find any sort of button to do it, first time seeing this forum software before.

You say, people don't like "change", but the thing is, "people" don't like money anymore in this country. They all want to move on to plastic. Online shopping, you can't send coins or bills, safely at least, in payment envelopes. Checks are a thing of the past with technology making everything digital.

There are just people who like hard currency, and others that like soft. For those wanting hard currency, they are happy to use any and all. the roll of halves I just spent at the drug store was quickly bought form the drawer by the cashier and they were my throwaways from the box listed in the JFK rolls thread.

IF this country really wanted to save money, they would issue something like a SSC and have the FED actually do transactions, and just give the first card free like a SSC and charge for a replacement card, and let all transactions be digital and soft currency.

How quickly do you think people will be willing to convert to all digital currency in the USA? I wouldn't, most businesses couldn't do it quickly like EU transferring to the Euro with months of advance planning. This country jsut shutdown because they couldn't decide on a money situation, and you would expect them to get the removal of the cent right?

What needs to be done is making the cent worth more by stopping the rampant inflation and greed mongering of prices, else we will turn into Japan where rather than 100 cents to make a "$1" purchase, it will take 1,000 cents, like Yen, then even the nickle would be only worth half a cent of today.

The only choices are, keep all current currency, or go completely digital, and this country is not ready for complete digital currency yet. :(

Strictly from a business standpoint, I think we will eventually get rid of the penny. We're leaning towards and becoming more comfortable with a cashless world. Truth be told, I can't remember the last time I used cash. I never have any around. My Cap1 card and my debit card see me through any purchases. I was 3rd or 4th in line at the store today and I never saw the cashier open the drawer to make change. Everything was electronic. Swipe. Receipt . Thank you, please come again.
My kids are completely cashless, using plastic for every need.

I did a quick search of US Coin Facts and saw that since 1983 (adding roughly and in my head) there have been over 250B cents minted, not including proofs. So, assuming that Everything in regard to pennies prior to 1983 disappeared, there would still be over 250 billion pennies in circulation dated between 1983 and 2008 where the list stops.
I wonder what the absorption rate would be? I'm fairly sure we'd have cents around for a long long time. This country could, and in my opinion should just Stop making the penny.
I cant see where or how it would be missed.
Is my thinking skewed, or am I missing something?

but that is just it, if we "cared" about the country, as a country, then we would go fully digital and save ALL the money it take to print, well money.

the thing is, most americans don't care about america, "We The People", not "We the Businesses" or "We The Land Mass". This is why we have politicians to care about the country, cause they surely don't care about "We The People". So let them run the country and figure it out and ignore us like they always do, and the People will worry about themselves.

The easiest changes that could affect a benefit to this country are the ones that would be the hardest pill to swallow, because of it being a change for the people.

Flat Tax Rate
Removal of Penny
Obamacare

In all the things that need to be done to save money, removing the penny is just a drop in the well. look how many millions extra taxes get from people because of rounding, and they still can't fix the economy? the budget?

It is funny you say people don't spend pennies, yet earlier it was commented on Coinstar dumping of them. You realize that Coinstar gives either a receipt that is like a gift card for that store with a fee, or a gift card for some other store without the fee. Thus people ARE spending pennies when they redeem those gift cards. Most places you can't just go take a jar of pennies, and you can only buy VERY few things for just a penny these days, but would you remove 1~4 from our number system too?

I really don't care what Canada does, no offense to Canadians, but I am not Canadian...

Look at the Euro, $2, 1$, 50c, 20c, 10c, 2c, 1c

more buying power for the Euro that the USD, and it is able to support a "penny" and a two-cent, and it has $2 and $1 coins.

the end result will be all digital currency except on black markets for the entire world. that is just evolution of money at its highest form. so either keep as is, or just go fully digital.

I can't see an 'All or Nothing' approach as mentioned above, and going to a completely digital system because of the potential shock wave. People don't like change (as in making things different) but I can certainly see say a 5 year suspension of minting the penny and quite possibly the nickel as their inventories are so high. Or perhaps even a greatly reduced minting of coins so as to continue the brand.

I spent 40 years in restaurants. When we prepped something, we made what we thought we could use, based on what we had used before. If we made too much, we lost money. So we wouldn't make any more til the supply was almost gone. What's so hard about thinking this way as to coin minting?

(Also had a co-manager who could hear a Mercury dime or other silver hitting the drawer from 40 feet away. he'd come running.

From a numismatic perspective, a penny drive would be very beneficial to penny roll hunters. If there was a sudden influx of accumulated change into circulation, the coins in there would be much older, possibly from 30 plus years! The find rates in rolls would go up! Imagine that, say a sixty year old coin jar dumped! A penny drive would put less stress on the government to make more pennies, and improve coin roll hunting!

i don't even really know what it is to tell the truth. I just eat popcorn when something about it comes on TV. I just meant that those are things that would change for EVERYONE in the country, and all are being fought and nothing accepted readily that "could" save money and such.



well now most places are only making it when it is needed on short order, so that has changed to reduce the loss. I think coins should be like bills. One comes in to be destroyed it is replaced. This is why there isn't bills for every year.

Also with what, 8 billion cents minted in 2008, I think the penny is here to stay for quite a while longer to get the ROI of it. 80 million dollars just to use for 5 or 6 years is a total waste or resources. This is also why the 21st president an up coins are only "made to order" an NIFC, because they have lots of them stored that no bank will take.

Maybe when the government says, "Nope this is money, take it and distribute it", like it should since it controls the money and IF it even makes more of ANY of it, then people will start using it. Businesses decide what money is used today, but they don't make it. It is a war between those two factions mostly. Like half dollars not being used, and some people foolish enough to claim it isn't even money anymore because they were hoarded after Kennedy appeared on it, and thus businesses no longer needed room for them in drawers and removed them and people stopped using them, thus 2002~ they are NIFC. Though, like the $2, a half dollar is still legal money. Sadly the populace is no longer educated what money is, they are just told to get credit cards, and don't know how they work either.

on the vending machines... who cares, that is their responsibility to adjust to the times. they should be thankful they don't have to have room for Ike's. Those are the best place for the $1 coins though as you don't have to find a coin that the machine can take or try to unfold it either. Yet they would rather put credit card readers in those, than to take a $1 coin. Lost my train of thought, so I will go find the conductor and see where I was heading and return later.