"Death to Pennies"

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Friday, January 6. 2012

I thought this video makes a rather comprehensive case against continuing the silliness of producing pennies.

Personal thoughts:

— IMHO, the greatest invention of the 1990's was the 'penny tray' at convenience stores.

— I've referred to them as 'pocket pollution' for decades.

— When I get home from shopping, I empty my pockets, file any important receipts, dump any coins in the change jar and drop any pennies in the waste basket, where they rightfully belong.

Posted by Dr. Mercury in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 09:20 | Comments (25) | Trackbacks (0)

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Well, do me a favor and send me the pennies.........you see, for every 100 you send, I get a dollar.........
and after 10 years of picking them up in parking lots, near cash registers, etc.....I took the water jug I filled and bought me a rolex 3 years ago.
We can argue the utility of the coin, but it is MONEY.
Send them to me.

#1 NJ MIke on 2012-01-06 09:38 (Reply)

I'll send you a bunch COD.

#1.1 NJSoldier on 2012-01-06 09:58 (Reply)

LOL!!! Looks like we are close so COD is no problem..........I'll buy.........you want the Cheeseburger Or the Donut?
Heck, I'll even use the pennies to pay!!!!!
If you're down Mercer County way, let me know.

#1.1.1 NJ MIke on 2012-01-06 11:42 (Reply)

I love Coinstar.

#2 Bird Dog on 2012-01-06 10:24 (Reply)

Hey, melt them down, they're worth about $.022 for the copper.

#3 chuck on 2012-01-06 10:39 (Reply)

Only 1982 or earlier and '82 pennies are pretty damned hard to find any more.

#3.1 arcs on 2012-01-06 15:03 (Reply)

I have a penny jar at home and a penny drawer at my office. As NJ Mike mentions, I just drop them there and before too long I have enough to go to Coinstar (after, of course, I've checked them against my coin collection - you always find one, and I've sometimes found some VERY GOOD old ones).

The modern penny is BS, of course, so the idea of getting rid of them is not without merit. Inflation has taken something that was useful many years ago (when I was young, penny candy was still a reality), and it's now more of a joke than anything else. Or a collectible, at best.

#4 Bulldog on 2012-01-06 10:43 (Reply)

What will you do for luck?

John Gorka, Oh Abraham

I see a penny and I pick it up
It's not the money
I could use the luck
And if it's face down
I turn it over
Head for Wood Avenue
Between Inman and New Dover
Back in my home town

#5 rhhardin (Link) on 2012-01-06 11:02 (Reply)

"A penny for your thoughts".

Always good to give one as a gift to a 'Lieberal'. As it continues to devalue, it more closely reflects their value, as well!

Or donate to your local animal shelter (not the SCPA).

There are more than just a few good destinations for your unwanted pennies.

Cheers.

#6 Garry on 2012-01-06 11:18 (Reply)

I take my pennies and check for wheats, and for the non-wheat pennies go into an old coffee can. When full, I take them to my bank and they convert them to bigger monetary units, which is then turned into BEER!

I keep 3 coffee cans, one for pennies, one for nickels, and one for dimes and quarters. Last time I took pennies & nickels in I received $80+ and the coffee can of dimes and quarters I figure will get me $350-$400.

However, I do agree on dumping pennies as a coin.

You know, I lived in the Middle East for a number of years, and only one store in my town would issue the equivalent to pennies, nickels, and dimes, but NO one would take them, not even the banks. So I have a ton of neat souvenirs.

#7 The Wisconsin Skier (Link) on 2012-01-06 11:26 (Reply)

If we did away with the penny would there be any legal tender for amounts less than a nickel? If not, would charges based on percentage (sales tax, etc) be rounded up? How much would this be? Small in individual transactions but in the aggregrate?

#8 Rick9911 on 2012-01-06 13:06 (Reply)

In Europe most or all stores stopped taking cents years ago, and now "round off" all prices (they of course still price everything at €4.99) at multiples of 5 cents.
In theory this all evens out over time, in practice they make a few cents on average per transaction.

Now of course they're calling for the 5 cent piece to be scrapped as well, so they can round off to the nearest 10 cents, and make even more money...

#8.1 J.T. Wenting on 2012-01-07 00:41 (Reply)

Greetings from Down Under.

The penny ceased to exist here a few years ago, and the following system was introduced to make up for its departure.

On most items we have a tax of 10% which is not added to the item at checkout - it is included in the sticker price.

If the sticker price is say 4.90, 4.91 or 49.2 you will pay 4.90. If the sticker price is 4.93, 4.94 or 4.95 you will pay 4.95.

If you buy two items the sticker price of each item is added, to give you the final price.

For example, buy an item with a sticker price of 4.93 and another with a sticker price of 4.98 and the cost is 9.91 but, you pay 9.90 because of rounding.

The same principle applies whether you buy 2 items or 10,002 items.

Try it - you'll like it.

#8.2 HRT on 2012-01-21 17:08 (Reply)

I agree that pennies are no longer useful and we should quit minting them. However tossing pennies in the garbage? Think again. Our small church of 30 members collects spare change and then donates to a cause we select. Last year we sent over $300 to an orphanage in India, $275 to a church destroyed by the Joplin tornado, and probably about $400 to Heifer Project. All from pocket change.

#9 Sam on 2012-01-06 13:09 (Reply)

One of the most important, influential books of my childhood was "Five Pennies to Spend."

It taught the virtues of modesty and generousity and the rewards of good karma.

What is to replace it? "Five Gift Cards to Blow"?

#10 Whitehall on 2012-01-06 13:17 (Reply)

Throwing away money is bad karma.

#11 Dr. Everett V. Scott (Link) on 2012-01-06 13:33 (Reply)

If I held onto my change, I wouldn't be able to lift my purse. I drop all change into the pockets at the bottom of my car doors, for use when for some reason I can't use a credit card and have run out of bills in my wallet. It's usually enough to buy coffee or a burger on the road.

#12 Texan99 (Link) on 2012-01-06 14:39 (Reply)

Rounding: if it's $4.97, you round up to $5.00 and pay with five pennies.

#13 rhhardin (Link) on 2012-01-06 17:36 (Reply)

The video contains a totally bogus and flawed analysis.

I will speak IN DEFENSE of the lowly penny, which is a bulwark against even further government OPPRESSION and TYRANNY.

The only reason that pennies still exist is government taxation and exactions, specifically, SALES TAXES.

I am sure merchants would be happy to sell you their products for a round number, and would even have no problem rounding their $5.99 items to $6. BUT, it is the imposition of sales taxes, surtaxes, environmental fees, save the whale taxes, bottle "deposits," recycling fees, mass transit assessments, carbon tax adjustments, and all the other schemes and rackets the government has come up with to part you with your hard-earned money at the cash register, that makes that $6 item you bought in the store ring up at $6.71 instead.

Now, in fact, the tax rarely comes to exactly one penny--it might actually come out to $6.70 1/10. But since the government must get its due, everything is automatically calculated to the next full penny.

Now, imagine if there were no pennies. That item which actually cost, plus tax, $6.70 1/10, will now be rung up at $6.75. Multiply that difference by millions of transactions and you're talking REAL MONEY. As you can see, not only does the government get more money through this hidden tax increase, the price of all goods will necessarily over time be inflated by the differential between a penny and a nickel. The government would be laughing all the way to the bank, chuckling that it had convinced you to get rid of a "worthless" coin.

And so what if the penny becomes worth less and less, the less it is worth the more it protects us from government windfalls on sales taxes.

So when you see Abe Lincoln on that penny, remember not only did he free the slaves, he is also preventing us all from falling into further financial slavery to the professional governing class.

#14 Jim on 2012-01-06 18:44 (Reply)

I agree with both sides of this discussion, for and against the lowliest of monetary value. Symbolic versus the practical? Life, pretty much.

I also remember as a young'n, in 55 or so, my father city bus driver that he was, taking two five gallon 'glass' jugs full of dimes and quarters out to the backyard and busting them up to convert to more ready cash. In subsequent idle thought I've wondered more than once at what the current value of his treasure would be worth nowadays.

Similar of course, to the same sort of dreaming about the value of the comic books, later trashed, that I left behind when I sailed out.

#15 XRay on 2012-01-06 21:15 (Reply)

Pennies? PENNIES? Dimes are now worth what pennies were when I first heard a call for their elimination.

We don't even need nickels or dimes. Quarters are marginal in their utility.

#16 Assistant VIllage Idiot (Link) on 2012-01-06 22:34 (Reply)

When I was in the Air Force stationed in England in 1975, we didn't use pennies on base. The net cost at checkout was rounded up or down to the nearest 5c. $6.72 became $6.70. $6.73 became $6.75. It balanced out in the end.

Even the IRS rounds to the nearest dollar. It's time for the penny to go away.

#17 sammy small on 2012-01-07 21:47 (Reply)

It was the same in the UK when I was stationed there (1986-89), except that everything was priced in multiples of five cents from the get-go. We hardly ever saw pennies.

#17.1 John on 2012-11-06 18:45 (Reply)

Sales tax makes pennies necessary.

#18 Alan Kellogg (Link) on 2012-01-07 21:51 (Reply)

When I get home from shopping, I turn on the 100 watt light bulb, take off my glasses, and squint at the dates. Anything minted before 1980 i pinch. One of these days I will rule the world.

#19 jorja on 2012-01-08 08:32 (Reply)

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Friday, January 6. 2012

"Death to Pennies"