Spending a penny

[Rollo]

I was listening to NPR last night and they had Timothy Geithner who is currently the United States Secretary of the Treasury.

One of the plans which he was suggesting was the abolition of the US Cent coin from circulation, on the basis that it has outlived its usefulness.

Apparently the cent coin on average gets something like only five or six uses and then is either hoarded or lost. Personally I wonder how economical it is to produce a cent coin and whether or not the reserve is making money on them.

In Australia the 1c and 2c coins were demonetised in 1992; certainly as far as everyday transactions go, you don't really miss them at all and in New Zealand the 1c, 2c and 5c are all gone leaving the 10c as the smallest coin.

My question is thus:

Would you be in favour of killing the cent coin and getting rid of them altogether? If not, why not?

[Alexamateo]

I think they should get rid of it, but they have tried a couple of times and there really doesn't seem to be the will to do it.

I will say this though. I don't think they are hoarded as much as they used to be. I've always collected coins, and I used to never come across "wheat" Pennies (before the Lincoln Memorial was placed on the back, chaffs of wheat were pictured. This change occured in 1959) Now, I come across them all the time. My theory is that the widespread availibility of Coinstar and other brand machines being in use has put more old coins back in circulation. These are machines where you just dump your change in and it counts and sorts it and gives you cash for it, usually for a 7% charge, not bad considering the PITA it can be to roll coins by hand. You now find lots of old pennies and nickels. Never any pre-1965 dimes or quarters though (made with real silver) I guess everyone realizes those are worth more than face value :D

[schmenke]

A similar "kill-the-penny" debate has been on-going in Canada for some time now. From what I understand it costs the Canadian Mint close to two cents to make each penny :mark: .
I for one wouldn't miss it.

[555-04Q2]

A similar "kill-the-penny" debate has been on-going in Canada for some time now. From what I understand it costs the Canadian Mint close to two cents to make each penny :mark: .
I for one wouldn't miss it.

Agree. Our 1c and 2c coins were costing 6c to make. WTF, thats poor money sense. 5c is now our smallest denomination and will soon be gone as well.

[Garry Walker]

The less coins the better. Whenever I pay with cash in some shop (you cant pay everywhere with a credit card or debit card!!), they always give coins back, so I have a huge amount of coins in some little box at home and no use for them.

[emporer_k]

I have a ones and twos jar which I collect all the small coins I get in until I have enough to take to the bank to make some use of them.

[veeten]

I have a ones and twos jar which I collect all the small coins I get in until I have enough to take to the bank to make some use of them.

either that or to a local grocery store that has one of these...

2284

mighty helpful these are. :)

[Daniel]

I tend to use 1p and 2p coins in vending machines if they take them, but I usually pay by card so never get change anyway.

[J4MIE]

Use all my coppers as part of my bus fare to work, get rid of 40p a day that way :up:

[Daniel]

coppers

'kin rozzers!

[Mark in Oshawa]

I for one don't mind the penny at all. I dump them all in my rig in two jars, One for US, one for Canadian and I have gotten a few bucks every couple of months. It is what it is. It means little by itself, but it adds up to a cup of coffee every now and then. I can think of far more useless things in society that government dumps large amounts of money at.....

Geithner, this supposed genius who still cant figure out how to pay his taxes is coming up with this to improve the US economy? Hello Tim....solve REAL problems....

[Drew]

They should definitely get rid of 1c and 2c euro coins, they are pointless I seem to get them and they just stay in my wallet until I end up chucking them out. I think in Finland or Sweden (both?) prices are rounded up to the nearest 5c and so the 5c is the biggest coin used.