Change: Nobody Wants It, A Cashiers Perspective

I am almost embarrassed to say that I often pay with exact change. However, I also have the change ready at hand to avoid holding the line up. At any rate here in Canada we do not have the one cent coin anymore so it makes it a bit easier.

This is slightly off subject, but have you ever wondered how many pennies (cents) are thrown away in ponds, rivers, lakes ,in the street ,tossed on the ground and simply all ways to be lost forever .
Times that estimated figure by at least 100 years !

I definitely buy whatever coin I see that interests me in my change drawer. I snatch up those silvers and any George VI coins and whatever else. I like getting change back but that's just me. I check it and if nothing special it goes into a jar. Not having pennies would for sure make things easier. I find pennies all over the floor, even in the freezer cases at work, the parking lots, etc.

30 years ago...I remember kids at school threw their pennies away

.... then ask you for money hmmmm ? go figure that out ? just plain laziness

The only way paying for an item with the exact amount can be a problem, is if one of the parties already is. People that don't have their change ready are the same people that don't have their credit card or check book ready. And I've been to events where, at closing, they announce half price on all sandwiches. My request to take two so confused the cashier, that she just made up a number. The real problem is that there is a social stigma against treating stupid people like stupid people.

I recall when you could go into a store and buy things for a penny - sometimes 2 for a penny.
Here, the problem is inflation, and if we drop the US cent from circulation, it is only a matter of time before the process of debasement and elimination repeats with the nickel.

Oh come on! Times have changed. There will still be billions and billions of cents around when production will be stopped. The US cent is by far the most minted coin in world history and will remain so for years to come! And everyone will benefit from a production stop, as millions of dollars will be saved by simply not producing them anymore. And it'll be better for the environment, to name an unpopular topic. All those tons of zinc and copper being thrown in the environment aren't exactly healthy. And be honest, stopping production is not equal to demonetizing them as well. You can just wait 25 years with that and let the cent die a natural death.

Things like 'the hobby will be killed if we stop the penny' are simply untrue. The cent had a significant higher purchasing power than 30 years ago, a significant higher value. Canada got rid of the cent and it didn't kill off coin collecting. In fact, half the EU got rid of their initial currency and it didn't kill the hobby here. Even better, a lot of pre-Euro coins can be bought by the pound in excellent quality nowadays. I'd say building up a big collection only got easier and cheaper!

And those linguistic expressions won't change. The Dutch had a huge list of expressions including coins, like 'een dubbeltje op z'n kant', 'een heitje voor een karweitje', 'stuivertje wisselen', 'op de markt is je gulden een daalder waard'... all those are still around even though the currency hasn't been for 15 years now. And in case of the daalder, that one hasn't been around for over 200 years, even.

So getting rid of the cent only has benefits when it comes to rational thinking, it's only sentimental value and gut feeling that keeps the thing alive.

After endless posts of hating the penny ...

I am pretty sure all here know there are a group of members that don't
want the penny/cent to be made anymore.

Just a suggestion .... maybe some post about what everyone likes about our hobby.

I think the most lamest excuse for keeping the penny is "what about penny drives and donations"?