In your opinion, should pennies still be minted?

[worlddefenseorg]

This is in regards to US pennies.

The arguement is as follows:

People who agree that pennies should still be minted say that the penny hold great sentimental value to young children and are a great way for corporations or non-profit organizations to host "Penny Drives" to help get donations up towards their goal.

People who disagree that pennies should still be minted say that the penny just isn't worth its original value years ago. Its monetary power is low, and other countries such as Canada and Switserland have already taken low denomonaion coins out of circultion and that we should follow suit.

I want to hear islander's ideas though, so feel free to argue away

[Jabberwocky]

I seriously doubt that pennies hold sentimental value for today's children. Perhaps to their parents, who project that upon their children.
From my perspective: I still get charged odd amounts at the cash register which require pennies to pay exactly, i.e. $12.47 for a bacon cheeseburger and fries at Holiday Burger. As long as such charges occur, pennies are useful.

[Valentian Elysium]

As a non-US person who has lived in the US only 6 months, allow my 2 cents.
Pennies (including the equivalent in my country) are nice I guess, but when will I ever use those damn small coins? They won't get me anything, they will only ever help in topping up the price. I don't know if I ever even used a penny, since I always had larger cents to use and I'm not the one to be like "oh my gods, 7 more cents! let me pull out 7 pennies!", no I'll just add another 10 and boom, 3 cents in change. I support the measures taken by Canada, Finland (iirc), and the Netherlands, where the prices don't change, if you pay by card you pay the full price no problem, but if you pay by cash you round to the nearest decimal divisible by 5. The 1/2 cents lost/gained is really not worth my time.

[Jontua]

I don't think pennies have any real use like cents over here in Finland. While 1 and 2 cent coins are technically legal nobody uses them and businesses will not take them, instead every cash purchase rounds to the nearest 5 cents like Val already said. Minting them will just cost the state unnecessary money.

[Pantso]

Pennies currently cost more to make than they're worth. Odd amounts should be rounded and the penny consigned to collections.

[Jabberwocky]

Here's the solution: send me all your pennies and I'll dispose of them for you.

[AxeCapital]

Apr 11, 2024 15:32:36 GMT -5 Jabberwocky said:

I seriously doubt that pennies hold sentimental value for today's children. Perhaps to their parents, who project that upon their children.
From my perspective: I still get charged odd amounts at the cash register which require pennies to pay exactly, i.e. $12.47 for a bacon cheeseburger and fries at Holiday Burger. As long as such charges occur, pennies are useful.

In countries were pennies have been removed, any item or service charged a non-round number, it would be rounded up or down. In this case, you would only have to pay $12.45.
If you are paying by card, bank transfer or e-wallet however, the actual price is charged

[Aersoldorf]

Eliminating coins because they're 'low value' seems to be a slippery slope. Various people have pointed out that we can just round off to the nearest nickel. Do you honestly expect merchants to charge prices knowing that they'll lose two cents by rounding down from say $4.32 to $4.30? No, they'll simply raise the price to $4.33 and then round up to $4.35, which is a 3 cent increase in the price. Not a lot I'll agree, but it's the fact that so many of you have so quickly abandoned pennies as worthless and you don't even mind that you're going to end up paying more for goods and services as a result. Multiplying transactions over your lifetime will mean that it's more money than you might originally think. It's just one more step in the downward spiral to a cashless society.

[Jontua]

Apr 18, 2024 13:16:17 GMT -5 Aersoldorf said:

Eliminating coins because they're 'low value' seems to be a slippery slope. Various people have pointed out that we can just round off to the nearest nickel. Do you honestly expect merchants to charge prices knowing that they'll lose two cents by rounding down from say $4.32 to $4.30? No, they'll simply raise the price to $4.33 and then round up to $4.35, which is a 3 cent increase in the price. Not a lot I'll agree, but it's the fact that so many of you have so quickly abandoned pennies as worthless and you don't even mind that you're going to end up paying more for goods and services as a result. Multiplying transactions over your lifetime will mean that it's more money than you might originally think. It's just one more step in the downward spiral to a cashless society.

It has not happened here, shops still regularly have prices ending in one or two cents. So I'm not sure if you have any proof backing this or if you're just assuming.

[Aersoldorf]

Apr 18, 2024 13:38:05 GMT -5 Jontua said:

Apr 18, 2024 13:16:17 GMT -5 Aersoldorf said:

Eliminating coins because they're 'low value' seems to be a slippery slope. Various people have pointed out that we can just round off to the nearest nickel. Do you honestly expect merchants to charge prices knowing that they'll lose two cents by rounding down from say $4.32 to $4.30? No, they'll simply raise the price to $4.33 and then round up to $4.35, which is a 3 cent increase in the price. Not a lot I'll agree, but it's the fact that so many of you have so quickly abandoned pennies as worthless and you don't even mind that you're going to end up paying more for goods and services as a result. Multiplying transactions over your lifetime will mean that it's more money than you might originally think. It's just one more step in the downward spiral to a cashless society.

It has not happened here, shops still regularly have prices ending in one or two cents. So I'm not sure if you have any proof backing this or if you're just assuming.

It was more a cynical statement about how greedy most companies are

[Valentian Elysium]

Apr 18, 2024 13:38:05 GMT -5 Jontua said:

Apr 18, 2024 13:16:17 GMT -5 Aersoldorf said:

Eliminating coins because they're 'low value' seems to be a slippery slope. Various people have pointed out that we can just round off to the nearest nickel. Do you honestly expect merchants to charge prices knowing that they'll lose two cents by rounding down from say $4.32 to $4.30? No, they'll simply raise the price to $4.33 and then round up to $4.35, which is a 3 cent increase in the price. Not a lot I'll agree, but it's the fact that so many of you have so quickly abandoned pennies as worthless and you don't even mind that you're going to end up paying more for goods and services as a result. Multiplying transactions over your lifetime will mean that it's more money than you might originally think. It's just one more step in the downward spiral to a cashless society.

It has not happened here, shops still regularly have prices ending in one or two cents. So I'm not sure if you have any proof backing this or if you're just assuming.

I can confirm the same here. And also the fact that most transactions are by card, so the price doesn't actually change. Sure, companies can increase by 1 cent to attempt to get that one extra cent I guess, but with most people paying by card the companies will just get that initial 1 cent.