Is the (US) penny doomed?

[dianeduane]

The question comes up once again, as the one-cent piece now costs more to produce than it's worth.

...The U.S. Mint could lose a mint, or $43.5 million, producing the coin this year, according to at least one expert.

...The Mint is also losing a pretty penny on the nickel. The agency, which plans to produce 1.7 billion of them this year, shells out 6.4 cents for each five-cent piece. Yet, there has been far less hoo-ha over the nickel.

"There is more sentimentality associated with the penny," said Anthony Zito, 53, former president of the Massapequa Coin Club and avid penny collector. "It has a beloved president on it and has inspired a host of sayings, such as 'penny-wise and pound-foolish,' 'a penny saved is a penny earned' and 'a penny for your thoughts.' It is more ingrained in our culture than any other currency."

Well, the "pound-foolish" saying would have come from the British side of things, or at least the pre-dollar side. 

Another take on the situation from further on in the article:

Another penny advocate, Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents, an advocacy group, argues that the elimination of the penny would hurt consumers and many charities, which rely on penny drives as part of their donation collections.

Most convenience stores would round up instead of round down, costing consumers $600 million, said Weller, citing a study by Raymond Lombra, a Penn State University economist.

Weller added that Kolbe is pushing the legislation because Arizona is a copper-producing state. The elimination of the penny would force the Mint to make more nickels, which are mostly composed of copper, he said.

"This is special interest legislation at it worst," Weller said.

...There was a lot of noise, I seem to remember, when the euro was first being structured, as to whether or not there should be a one-cent coin. I can't now recall all the justifications for the "yea" or "nay" positions. Whatever: we've got it now.

Meanwhile, it'll be interesting to see if our cent outlasts the US one...

 

 

Comments

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

Yup, Australia phased out the one cent coin a while ago. Shops still price in cents - but the total is rounded up or down at the till as required. IME supermarkets round down as a matter of course, smaller shops can vary. There was a news story not long after it came into effect of an unemployed bloke spending hours going through the supermarket buying a single item at a time to save as much as possible - one carrot at a time, for example, as anything under 5c was rounded to zero! Eventually the management got fed up and banned him.

When I had a shop in my local town (Somerset, UK) I set my till to round to the nearest 5p so that I didn't have to muck about with copper coins for the most part - the manual for the till described this as "Australian Settings" :)

[mistwolf.livejournal.com]

Not quite! Australia did the smart thing and mandated how to round things when they phased out the penny. $.01 and $.02 round down, $.03 and $.04 round up. Fair, equitable, and fine. I've yet to hear anyone complaining they should bring back the $.01 and $.02 pieces.

They also have $1 and $2 coins instead of bills, which is a fabulous idea. They colored them gold instead of silver and did the stippling on the edge differently so you can easily tell them from the silver change.

And they have true plastic bills that take a /lot/ of effort to damage or destroy. You don't see the old, nasty bills you do in the US at all, really.

All in all, this country did it, and did it /right/. I wish the US would do the same on all points.

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I recall supermarkets (Coles et al) pretty much making a big thing of only rounding down, at least in Perth. I have just realised how long ago that was... 16 years! Oh, and don't get me started on the bloody "funny money" notes they introduced. I've never been able to forget that the first one they tried had to be recalled and re-issued. It was the $10 note (one of the original security features - a hologram - rubbed off reasonably easily *g*).

We have £1 and £2 coins instead of notes in the UK - they're coloured gold here as well. A right royal pain in the arse they are too. Fecking heavy crap weighing down my pockets :/

[a-muse-d.livejournal.com]

i despised the plastic Australian bills. nearly impossible to fold and not meant to be kept in a wallet.

the $1 and $2 coins were bulky and took up too much room and just encouraged you to spend them (which is why at carnivals in the state i'm from they use tokens or coins so you're more inclined to get rid of them).

i'm quite happy with US bills as they are, as they're also quite a bit more biodegradable.