Comment by mulmen
3 years ago
Americans use the metric system every day. And what's wrong with a penny? Decimal currency has to retain a fundamental unit or there are some amounts that can't be created.
3 years ago
Americans use the metric system every day. And what's wrong with a penny? Decimal currency has to retain a fundamental unit or there are some amounts that can't be created.
I don't have a horse in this race, but I think what the commenter meant was, some places don't use the penny any more.
In Canada, the penny is gone. It was too expensive to keep (cost of producing them is just silly, for their value of 1 cent.). So prices are just rounded when using cash:
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/programs/about-canad...
In as the penny was effectively worthless even a decade ago (when this was done), it just makes sense. I can't think of a single person, or retailer, who cared.
Most approved of it.
So, that's probably what someone meant by the penny comment. Whether the US should do the same? I don't know. I just know it worked out very easily, and well, in Canada.
> cost of producing them is just silly, for their value of 1 cent.
I don't understand this argument. A penny is not disposable. They last for decades, being used in thousands of transactions. It only has to generate more economic value in its life than it cost to produce. The face value is irrelevant.
Dropping the penny just means you changed the resolution of your currency from 100ths to 20ths. Can I still run a credit card transaction for $1.17 in Canada?
> I just know it worked out very easily, and well, in Canada.
What benefits did Canada realize with this change?
Read some of the info / stats here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(Canadian_coin)#Abolitio...
The real problem is that pennies are worth nothing, (1 cent has no real value for people), so people hoard them, or don't care if they are damaged/lost.
Add to that, the cost of the metal is more than the face value, so illegal or not, people can buy them and profit by destroying them.
Look at these stats:
* A 2007 survey indicated that 37 percent of Canadians used pennies, but the government continued to produce about 816 million pennies per year, equal to 24 pennies per Canadian.
* In 2011 the Royal Canadian Mint had minted 1.1 billion pennies
Spending millions yearly, because people don't care, isn't sensible.
And yes, electronic means to the penny, cash means rounding.
Who cares? It all evens out in the end, and 2 cents is nothing, yet it saves tens of millions a year.
Not to mention, counting all those pennies for no reason.
You know how it worked for me? I'd get paid in cash, get a few pennies, and at end of day throw them on my dresser. Do you think I put them in my pocket, to count out next time?
No. No one did. Because it isn't worth the energy or time.
We'll probably phase out the nickle soon.