Can we get along without the penny?

[madfranks]

Considering our good friends to the north, the canucks just got rid of their penny, here's an interesting perception on the US cent, and what it's really worth today. Considering that in 1973, the penny had the purchasing power of a 2013 nickel, and in 1947 the penny had the purchasing power of a 2013 dime, the modern cent really is worth so little it's not really necessary to keep it. And isn't it interesting that prior to 1913, the penny had a value roughly the same as a modern quarter?

Can We Get Along Without The Penny? (http://www.economonitor.com/dolanecon/2013/02/19/can-we-get-along-without-the-penny-this-chart-may-help-you-decide/)

Can we get along without the U.S. penny? Reportedly, a majority of Americans think we cannot. We’re just used to it. After all, the penny has been around in one form or another ever since George Washington signed An Act to Provide for a Copper Coinage in 1792.

What we have not always had is a coin as small in value as the current U.S. cent. In fact, we never have had a coin worth so little. Take a guess at how much a penny was worth, in today’s money, in the year you were born. Then check your answer against the following chart, which shows just how much that little sliver of copper and zinc has shrunk in value over time:

http://www.economonitor.com/dolanecon/files/2013/02/P130219-1.png

Look at it this way:

- If we got rid of the penny, our smallest coin would be the nickel. That would take us back to where we were in 1973.

- If we got rid of the penny and the nickel, our smallest coin would be the dime. That would take us back to 1947.

- If we got rid of the penny, the nickel, and the dime, our smallest coin would be the quarter. That would take us back approximately to where we were from 1857, when the last half-penny was minted, up to the First World War.

Back when the penny was worth so much, was there a public outcry demanding smaller coins? Not really. In the depths of the Depression, when the value of the penny peaked at about 15 cents in today’s money, the Treasury actually proposed issuing half-cent and 1-mill coins. The idea was quickly shot down, and the coins were never minted.

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[Dogman]

There are a bunch of stores here that it is a very rare thing to need to get or give any penny's any more. Rounding up or down to the nearest nickle is the norm now. Only the big grocery chain stores still give or ask for penny's now.

So here they are on the way to extension anyway.

[JohnQPublic]

Banks and supermarkets need them. I remember being at a bank in China, and traded some $ for Yuan. They changed it to the .01 Yuan (1 fen). The "fennies" were ultra-cheap and light coins, made of aluminum, almost felt like plastic. I have never seen these in circulation, only at the bank. I kept a few just because they were so cheap looking/feeling.

I think they started making these again in 2005 (http://books.google.com/books?id=bTIYVzneJyIC&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=current+1+fen+coin+composition&source=bl&ots=vgGGEuosFo&sig=5VVxQXuqRNd9DHuOpB8jpsPjtJA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JzMlUY6cHYe70QHF1ID4Cg&ved=0CGoQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=current%201%20fen%20coin%20composition&f=false). I saw a 2011 1 fen coin on ebay. Here is a 1 fen cuff link (http://www.worldcoincufflinks.com/product/Chinacufflinks/ChinaCufflinks1fen) (using 2007 dated coins).

I think Canada has a VAT system, so prices already have tax included. In the US we do not, so exact change is expected. I suspect getting rid of the penny could be part of a move to a VAT here (as we become more socialist/totalitarian).


4464

[Sparky]

...
I think Canada has a VAT system, so prices already have tax included. In the US we do not, so exact change is expected. ...

Exact change isn't expected here. We expect it to be rounded off to the nearest penny. We just think of it as exact change because that's the lowest coin unit. We'd make the same mental adjustment to the nickel or the dime if we had to.

[Sparky]

As I've asked before, where are these majority of Americans who want to keep the penny? I don't think I've met one yet. Every one of these "studies" seems to be commissioned by someone with a vested interested in keeping the penny, like the zinc lobby, or Coinstar.

[steyr_m]

There are stores that will still accept the penny here. It isn't totally gone yet.

I say this at work, and people look at me like I have three heads; but why not deflate our currency [and tied to something like copper/silver/gold] so that the penny is actually worth something.