Should we get rid of the penny?

[muwarrior69]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/what-trump-s-plan-to-stop-minting-pennies-means-for-consumers/ar-AA1yMcyz?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=7f57377eea534594a8787d7ba202ef1e&ei=32

What do you think? I seldom use cash anymore, so I am sort of on the fence. I think it will affect mom and pop stores more than anyone else. Maybe a hundred years from now a penny might be worth something if they are discontinued.

[The Sultan]

Yes we should get rid of the penny. Round every transaction to the nearest nickel.

[tower912]

Politics, unfortunately.   

[rocky_warrior]

Yes we should get rid of the penny. Round every transaction to the nearest nickel.

Realistically, the penny, and nickle could probably be eliminated.  However, I don't think there's really any cost savings in the end, with the additional cost for businesses to implement price changes, and rounding - especially with state and local taxes involved.

Politics, unfortunately.   

If folks can avoid their partisan takes, it's an interesting discussion, that I'll be watching carefully.

[rocky_warrior]

One place this would have a big (and weird) change, is internet ad sales.  We get pennies (or fractions thereof) for every few ads viewed.  We get more when people click on the ads, but still usually a few cents. 

Would every ad then be rounded up? That would increase costs of advertising a lot.  Just round up the overall ad campaign cost, and round up or down the payments to those that show ads?  Still doesn't seem right to be counting in pennies (or fractions of nickles) if it's something that doesn't exist.

[jesmu84]

https://youtu.be/y5UT04p5f7U?si=eIATn4ieVOuwSCkW

[jesmu84]

Yes. And the nickel. And probably the dime too.

[rocky_warrior]

So NZ only rounds up (to 10c) if you pay with cash.  You pay to the "cent" when using credit.  Cash tax.

[tower912]

The long term trend is a cashless society.

[MU82]

So NZ only rounds up (to 10c) if you pay with cash.  You pay to the "cent" when using credit.  Cash tax.

I like this idea, at least as an interim solution.

Silly to keep making pennies and nickels, as they cost too much to make and are largely made of materials that are poor for the environment.

[rocky_warrior]

I so rarely use cash, I had to look up the percentages:

https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/cash-vs-credit-card-spending-statistics/

The interesting thing is that it's only about 12% cash transactions.

But 37% of retail dollars come from cash?  I'm not sure I understand how these two bullets make sense, unless the 4x combines online and in-store.  I'm guessing in-store cash shoppers spend more then.

• Shoppers spend up to 4x as much when they pay with credit cards instead of cash.
• 63% of nationwide retail sales dollars are from credit card transactions.

Edit:  I'm just gonna ignore that link.  I can't make sense of it's mutiple conflicting percentages.

[muwarrior69]

I so rarely use cash, I had to look up the percentages:

https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/cash-vs-credit-card-spending-statistics/

The interesting thing is that it's only about 12% cash transactions.

But 37% of retail dollars come from cash?  I'm not sure I understand how these two bullets make sense, unless the 4x combines online and in-store.  I'm guessing in-store cash shoppers spend more then.

• Shoppers spend up to 4x as much when they pay with credit cards instead of cash.
• 63% of nationwide retail sales dollars are from credit card transactions.

I am like you, but I still see people pay cash at the grocery store.

[muwarrior69]

Does bubble gum cost more than a penny? Put a penny in the machine and out came the bubble gum.

[rocky_warrior]

Does bubble gum cost more than a penny? Put a penny in the machine and out came the bubble gum.

This would also deliver a hit to the penny press machines nationwide. 

[StillAWarrior]

One place this would have a big (and weird) change, is internet ad sales.  We get pennies (or fractions thereof) for every few ads viewed.  We get more when people click on the ads, but still usually a few cents. 

Would every ad then be rounded up? That would increase costs of advertising a lot.  Just round up the overall ad campaign cost, and round up or down the payments to those that show ads?  Still doesn't seem right to be counting in pennies (or fractions of nickles) if it's something that doesn't exist.

I don't know...they've been selling gasoline at prices that end in 1/10 penny for as long as I can remember and they somehow have figured out a way to make that work.

[Pakuni]

One place this would have a big (and weird) change, is internet ad sales.  We get pennies (or fractions thereof) for every few ads viewed.  We get more when people click on the ads, but still usually a few cents. 

Would every ad then be rounded up? That would increase costs of advertising a lot.  Just round up the overall ad campaign cost, and round up or down the payments to those that show ads?  Still doesn't seem right to be counting in pennies (or fractions of nickles) if it's something that doesn't exist.

The vast majority of transactions are digital now anyhow, so I'm not sure it would matter. As I understand it, the proposal would eliminate the penny as a physical currency, not the concept of cents. Businesses that deal with a lot of cash customers could simply implement a round up policy.

[Uncle Rico]

Yes

[Jockey]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/what-trump-s-plan-to-stop-minting-pennies-means-for-consumers/ar-AA1yMcyz?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=7f57377eea534594a8787d7ba202ef1e&ei=32

What do you think? I seldom use cash anymore, so I am sort of on the fence. I think it will affect mom and pop stores more than anyone else. Maybe a hundred years from now a penny might be worth something if they are discontinued.

Today's pennies will have no extra value in 100 years. Except sentimental.

[rocky_warrior]

The vast majority of transactions are digital now anyhow, so I'm not sure it would matter. As I understand it, the proposal would eliminate the penny as a physical currency, not the concept of cents. Businesses that deal with a lot of cash customers could simply implement a round up policy.

Yes, as I noted after, NZ only "taxes" cash transactions.  Which I guess is a fine, but weird way to do it.  Stay cashless and win...

I don't know...they've been selling gasoline at prices that end in 1/10 penny for as long as I can remember and they somehow have figured out a way to make that work.

Also weird, but agree.  We should probably force gas stations to abandon the 9/10 practice.

[tower912]

New Zealand?  I thought they were on the Gold standard.

[TallTitan34]

I think only having a $0.10 and $0.50 coin makes sense.  All prices round to the tenth of a dollar.

I'd be fine eliminating the penny and nickel and keeping the dime and quarter.

[Billy Hoyle]

Realistically, the penny, and nickle could probably be eliminated.  However, I don't think there's really any cost savings in the end, with the additional cost for businesses to implement price changes, and rounding - especially with state and local taxes involved.

If folks can avoid their partisan takes, it's an interesting discussion, that I'll be watching carefully.

I don't think it's a partisan issue but more of a common sense one. It costs more to produce than it's worth and there are reasonable solutions to phasing it out. I'm not a "we should move to a cashless society" guy and Jockey makes a good point when he says "I think it will affect mom and pop stores more than anyone else." The idea of rounding for those who want to pay cash or businesses that only take cash is a very reasonable solution. I'm seeing more places that offer a discount for customers who pay cash to avoid the processing fees.

[rocky_warrior]

don't think it's a partisan issue

You must live in a cave 

I agree...it *shouldn't* be.

[CTWarrior]

Yes we should get rid of the penny. Round every transaction to the nearest nickel.

It costs more than a penny to make a penny and more than a nickel to make a nickel.  100+ years ago, a penny had more buying power than a quarter does now, and we got along fine.  Get rid of pennies and nickels and round to the nearest dime.  When I was in the Netherlands 20 years ago they were already doing that with their currency.

[Scoop Snoop]

I don't think it's a partisan issue but more of a common sense one. It costs more to produce than it's worth and there are reasonable solutions to phasing it out. I'm not a "we should move to a cashless society" guy and Jockey makes a good point when he says "I think it will affect mom and pop stores more than anyone else." The idea of rounding for those who want to pay cash or businesses that only take cash is a very reasonable solution. I'm seeing more places that offer a discount for customers who pay cash to avoid the processing fees.

A portion of all pricing where credit cards are accepted typically includes the fee(s) that the merchant pays unless it is listed separately. If you believe that the merchant is absorbing this business expense, I think you are being naive.

By stating that a fee is added the customer has the option of paying less with cash. The "mom and pop" stores refusal to accept credit cards sometimes, I suspect, is because they want to hide some of their income from the IRS.

Some resistance to credit cards is cultural. When we visited Portugal, we found quite a few merchants dealt solely in cash.