What If The Penny Was Discontinued?

Okay, for 1 and 2 eurocent...

It would take a Europe-wide decision to get rid of them (and they are worth more than one US cent and weigh less, and have always been made of the suggested cheap materials above), which hasn't happened.

Instead, certain countries would just slash mintages and stop distributing them, and they would fall out of use. This has already happened in the Netherlands and a few other countries whose governments have taken action... so don't kid yourself, the USA is still behind the EU here.

Personal or not, the penny has approximately one tenth of the buying power of the Half Cent when it was canceled in 1857. The cheapest thing I have ever bought this year was a piece of gum at a convenience store for five or ten cents. The only role the penny has in our monetary system is a placeholder today.

Since I have 4 or 5 Reward cards/customer loyalty cards on my key chain right now, I'm sure that down the road, (should the penny disappear completely)I could spend as an example $9.97 With Tax applied, and since my card is scanned at most places, receive the .03 (had I used cash) as a credit against a future purchase. Perhaps even refunded to the account my debit is attached to, yet with the former a big enough retailer could find itself with Millions of dollars in interest bearing assets, working the float until the card is scanned again. Problem solved for the customer, as there would be No rounding up, perhaps No Taxing up on Uncle Sam's part, and the retailers would keep a higher percentage of customer loyalty.

I don't think a 2 cent coin would work for the same reasons a 1 cent coin doesn't. It would still cost more than face to be minted.

Interesting points , I am seriously shocked at how unprofitable the nickel is ! Is it to do with metal costs ?




I have always wondered why the Two Cent coin wasnt introduced, with no Two Cent coins I guess you guys get pennies a lot , I wonder if that also contributes to some peoples dislike of them

Canadian cents were also 98% copper for most of that time while until mid 1982 US cents were only 95% copper, so there is more money to be made in melting them down.

you realize cancelling the nickle would crush the entire US market? a flat tax rate was discussed, but most places wouldn't want to round taxes to the nearest dime on whichever side they fall overnight.

also mentioning EU and the Euro, while some don't want to make pennies and round to the nearest 5 cents, the EU bank say "don't do that!", as the purpose of your money being good anywhere in that region loses value when you feel you are being cheated. so it isn't really working for those countries that want to round to 5 rather than use a 1 or 2 either. in most cases, they make token amounts of their 1 and 2 cents, and just let everyone else make and use them.

when discussing time involved in using a penny, I ask how much time is taken to grab 2 quarters for change rather than one half dollar? yet the quarter still exists while the half does not. Everywhere else follows pretty much Jeffersons decimal system for coinage now, except his own country. quarter... not 20 cents.

And don't get me started on the fact that US coins are sized silly, since the smallest size coin is the middle value, but who cares if the blind are able to use money right? that is why every bill is the exact same size, so they can get cheated no everything because again US citizens only care about themselves, as I said before.

time to finish off a bottle and rinse some things that look like coins from the parking lot to see what they are and if they are even coins.

Ten cents for what? Or do you mean ten PERcent?

No, removing the nickel would not crush the U.S. Economy. It would crush the quarter, but that's because it never fit in anyway (some South American countries had 12.5 cent pieces to make the quarter feel loved). Rounding is done at the end of all transactions! That means about 0 cents difference if everyone rounds the government's instructed way.

like was just said, remove the nickle, and how do you give change for the quarter? we would have to get rid of the quarter which is to have national parks until 2021 and maybe longer, and after them go back to using half dollars if we have no nickle or penny.