The Penny

grasshopper said:
I think I saw somewhere the the amount of metal used to make pennies, equals the mass of Mt. Rushmore. Do we need to keep chopping up our mountains?
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No, mostly Peruvian and Chilean mountains. Ours are prety well chopped out.

Ha
 
Anything whose value is less than its cost of production should be eliminated.
 
Gone4Good said:
Anything whose value is less than its cost of production should be eliminated.
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I suppose you could make this as a philosophical argument. Producing a "penny" perhaps costs more than a penny (not sure that is true any more since we no longer use copper for pennies). But, the "value" of a penny is that it can be used thousands of times for its intended purpose before it is finally discarded as not useable. One could make the argument (not me) that it might be worth spending MORE to produce coinage that lasts even longer than it does.

Considering the billions (trillions) spent on "bailouts" and "TARP" etc., etc. in the last couple of years, I wouldn't sweat the cost of a few hundred million pennies. But that's just me. If you don't like pennies, consider giving them to charity. Many still take them and they won't pitch them in a drawer out of circulation.
 
Koolau said:
Considering the billions (trillions) spent on "bailouts" and "TARP" etc., etc. in the last couple of years, I wouldn't sweat the cost of ...
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I'm guessing the above will be the new "If we can put a man on the moon, then ..."
 
dex said:
I'm guessing the above will be the new "If we can put a man on the moon, then ..."
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And remember, you heard it here first!!:cool: Think I could copyright it?? :whistle:
 
The Army stopped using pennies over 20 years ago. Commissaries and PX's do exactly what the Donut people are doing. They round up or down the nearest nickle. If the Army, who obviously is run by the governement does that (at least in Europe..not sure about US bases), I see no reason why they dont do away with the penny all together.
 
It's a big hurdle for people to have things cost an amount that can't be paid for without rounding. Once we eliminate the penny, that hurdle will be jumped, and it will be easier to eliminate nickels and dimes.

There's only one thing that I can think of that we pay cash for whose price usually has to be rounded up or down. It's something people buy every day. Can anyone guess what I'm thinking of?
 
TromboneAl said:
There's only one thing that I can think of that we pay cash for whose price usually has to be rounded up or down. It's something people buy every day. Can anyone guess what I'm thinking of?
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Maybe newspapers? The cover price is charged in stores, plus sales tax. In the vending machine, the same newspaper sells for exactly the cover price. The retailer (selling through the vending machine) has to charge you sales tax, so, in effect, the price of the paper was rounded down to accommodate the sales tax and leave the price at an "even" amount that the machine can handle.
(Okay, not very elegant, but maybe I'll get partial credit for showing my work)
 
I was just reading in the local paper today that our chapter of the Salvation Army is asking specifically for pennies (of course, they will gladly accept larger denominations) to fill some very large container at the local mall. They are trying to collect $58,000 for the holidays.
 
TromboneAl said:
It's a big hurdle for people to have things cost an amount that can't be paid for without rounding. Once we eliminate the penny, that hurdle will be jumped, and it will be easier to eliminate nickels and dimes.

There's only one thing that I can think of that we pay cash for whose price usually has to be rounded up or down. It's something people buy every day. Can anyone guess what I'm thinking of?
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Gasoline
 
Just got a penny with the new design as change after buying something. I like the old design more.
 
One thought--lots of people are worried about money right now. Not just in the general sense, but about US money and currency. People want some stability now, some signs that everything is okay, that some things aren't changing. The "look" of the US currency is among the most recognized and iconic designs in the entire world. Given the current state of things, it would seem prudent for the Treasury to put all their ambitious "change for change's sake" programs on hold for awhile. Yes, incorporate subtle anti-counterfeiting features in the folding money, but don't drastically change the location or size of the portraits, change the color, etc.
 
2 thoughts.

1) should we have a 2 cent piece to replace the penny? it shouldnt cost anymore to make than a penny (and therefore wont cost more to make than it is worth) and would reduce the amount of rounding required if we got rid of the penny.

2) wrt
TromboneAl said:
Bestwifeever said:
TromboneAl said:
It's a big hurdle for people to have things cost an amount that can't be paid for without rounding. Once we eliminate the penny, that hurdle will be jumped, and it will be easier to eliminate nickels and dimes.

There's only one thing that I can think of that we pay cash for whose price usually has to be rounded up or down. It's something people buy every day. Can anyone guess what I'm thinking of?
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Gasoline.

(I think newspapers do not have tax charged on them.)
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Right.
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please explain how gasoline is "usually" rounded.
 
Bestwifeever said:
When you fill your tank with exactly 10 gallons, the cost doesn't have to be rounded: 10 gallons of gas X $2.999 = $29.99.
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are there that many people who, when putting gas in their vehicle's tank, put in an even number of gallons? what i see usually happening (and saw when i worked at a gas station in my youth) was people would do 1 of 2 things; 1) fill 'er up or 2) put $X worth of gas into the tank. i dont see how rounding applies to these 2 cases.
 
jdw_fire said:
are there that many people who, when putting gas in their vehicle's tank, put in an even number of gallons? what i see usually happening (and saw when i worked at a gas station in my youth) was people would do 1 of 2 things; 1) fill 'er up or 2) put $X worth of gas into the tank. i dont see how rounding applies to these 2 cases.
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In your two examples I believe the final cost is always rounded to the nearest penny (the "usually rounded" referred to earlier). Not sure if it's always rounded up to benefit the gas station but I suspect it is.

I thought you were questioning the "usually" in terms of cases when the cost is not rounded (which would only be when the total cost is an even cent).
 
Bestwifeever said:
In your two examples I believe the final cost is always rounded to the nearest penny (the "usually rounded" referred to earlier). Not sure if it's always rounded up to benefit the gas station but I suspect it is.

I thought you were questioning the "usually" in terms of cases when the cost is not rounded (which would only be when the total cost is an even cent).
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well if this is what you mean by rounding then any time you buy produce priced by the pound there is always rounding. any time you buy any of the bulk food (which is priced by the pound) there is always rounding. any time you buy meat (which is priced by the pound) there is always rounding. and the list goes on and on. in fact, if when you buy gasoline you go inside and pay for $X, then computer will stop the pump right on $X worth of gasoline and an argument can be made that there is no rounding. but if you are controling the flow with your hand on the pump valve, even if you stop on what you think is the exact amount, you didnt and really there is rounding. i dont see the significance of buying gasoline and rounding. care to explain it to me?
 
Because gasoline is always priced in tenths of cents per unit and the other things you mentioned (and virtually everything except gasoline) are always priced in full cents per unit? I believe that is the only point Trombone Al was making.
 
Bestwifeever said:
Because gasoline is always priced in tenths of cents per unit and the other things you mentioned (and virtually everything except gasoline) are always priced in full cents per unit? I believe that is the only point Trombone Al was making.
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thank you
 
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