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Eliminate The Penny? Really?
🕑 Added 2025-02-17 20:58:16 +0000 UTCIt's not like we didn't see it coming... but really what does it mean to get rid of the American Penny?
Comments
Heather Sartain
Keep the penny! We can at least check out tire tread with it!
Circuitmike
And then they adjust the prices so everything just happens to round up instead of down.
Circuitmike
If we get rid of the penny, we'll be no better than... CANADA! In other news, this video reminded me that I really, really want to own a penny press machine.
MrBelmosan
Well said.
Zygmunt Dean
This would cause a lot of public consternation over hidden price rises. Reminds me of decimalisation back in 1971 - true, dropping £sd for £p was simpler and has had many benefits, but no-one felt better off as a result.
Pseudonym73
Eliminating 5¢ pieces would be a challenge because it doesn't round neatly. The fairest way is round-to-even, so both 15¢ and 25¢ would round to 20¢. This would work in Australia, which has a 20¢ coin, but not the US and Canada. You can of course make 5¢ by paying 25¢ and getting a couple of 10¢ pieces in change, but it means that you may always need to bring more money than you need to pay for stuff. Quarters complicate everything. They were a bad idea. There's a reason why there isn't a $25 bill.
Pseudonym73
Same in Australia. When paying in cash, they round to the nearest 5 cents. But most people pay for things electronically these days.
John Verne
I suppose it's important to note that these transactions aren't just arbitrary custom. It is the law, similar to how equipment for weights and measures accepted for trade. POS systems were upgraded to align with the law. If someone operates retail trade in a manner that is contrary to this law, it's the same as running afoul of any law regarding trade in the country.
John Verne
That is the trend. I haven't paid in cash or carried cash regularly for over a decade (or more, possibly). I've heard the arguments for maintaining a cash economy but none of those arguments affect me, and it isn't clear to me that a cash economy is the lever we want for the problems it is supposed to solve.
John Verne
You pay to the nearest 5¢
John Verne
In Canada when paying in cash, they round mathematically to the nearest 5¢. Paying with any sort of card you are charged exactly the same as whatever the price is.
Fran Blanche
It would simply mean that most if not all retail establishments would eliminate cash transactions, essentially ending cash.
Fran Blanche
So you pay more if you pay cash?
Fran Blanche
No one rounds down the cost of anything!
Michael F Barushok
When the United States eliminated the half cent, in 1857, the purchasing power of one cent was approximately equivalent to a quarter dollar today. Many countries have stopped making their smaller coins but allow them to be used. Currently in circulation there's about 1000 pennies per person in the US. There are already businesses that don't want to deal with pennies and round cash purchases to the nearest $0.05. If you could pick up one penny every 5 seconds you would be doing it for less than minimum wage.
AlexBrandon
I did not think about this .. you are right they are certainly selling us something....
Lennart Sorensen
In canada where we got rid of useless pennies years ago, we still have $9.99 prices. If you pay by credit card or debit card, you pay that price. Otherwise when paying cash we round to the nearest 5 cents. This has not been a problem at all.
Erik Blake
And why are you saying everything rounds up? It's done like in grade school - rounding up and down, as normal.
adrian
It means no more pricing at $9.99
Bob Pockney
I get your points here. The main thing about coinage is that the face value must be more than the material value (which obviously isn't the same as the cost to manufacture). In the UK, we've been through the currency issues, firstly with decimalisation, then dropping the 1/2p. Note, though, that fuel is priced in fractions of a penny and the total is rounded down or up, to nearest 1p. On banking and money movement, I don’t pay for banking or to move money around. I can move large sums out of my bank in minutes, no charges or questions. I do accept that getting out £10,000 in cash might be interesting though.
Erik Blake
All calculations are still done to the penny, like now, and if you pay electronically, you still pay to the penny. So, no change there (pun intended). Only cash transactions, on the final total of the bill, get rounded. If you are buying a single item, the store can rig the price, but that gets tricky for a typical grocery basket.
Donald J Arndt
Thank you Fran for taking on this subject. Although my favorite Fran thing is taking vintage stuff apart, this piece was worth the interruption.
Tony Aiuto
Getting rid of the penny is the only thing I agree with don trump on. It costs more to the economy than it is worth. So far, this is the only thing he has done which is not harmful. The sad thing is that only a dictator who does not care about reelction (because they don't intend to ever have one) could pull it off.
EEVblog
Welcome to 1992 in Australia
Keri Szafir
Here in Poland there were plans to phase out cash as well because Big Finance Bro could have a better watch over where your money comes from and goes, but for this reason these efforts were pretty unpopular and we'll stick with virtual and physical money coexisting for a good bunch of years.
