The Penny Poll

[TheGoofster]

OK, today's poll is based on a somewhat popular news story lately.
Should we get rid of the penny, and just round up all purchases to the nearest nickle?
What do you think? Would you like to see the US go pennyless, or would you prefer to keep the penny?

 

[tiggger1]

id keep the penny, heck all those pennies add up!

 

[TheGoofster]

Anybody else? A Penny for your thoughts!

 

[DISUNC]

what if something cost ONLY 99cents????

 

[Anewman]

what if something cost ONLY 99cents????

Just buy 100 of them and pay with exact change

 

[TheGoofster]

Just buy 100 of them and pay with exact change

Come on, now you're being ridiculous. You only need to buy 10 of them to get it to come out to a nice round figure - 9.90

 

[GeorgeG]

This has been debated for decades.

I think the penny has long outlived it's usefulness. Many years ago a penny had some value, but inflation has made it insignificant. I'd like to see prices rounded to the nearest nickle and that is a short-lived solution. I'd actually like to see the quarter become the smallest denimination of our currency. Of course, sales taxes would also need to to be rounded, too.

There's not much, if anything at all, you can buy for less than a nickle, or even a dime or quarter. 99 cents sounds like a bargain because it's less than a dollar. Technically, it is, but it's still a buck to most of us. It's just marketing at it's best. Just think... you can put yourself in the driver's seat of that car for under $18,000! Well, I suppose $17,999.99 is a great bargain...

But, you never know... maybe next year we'll be able to buy a burger for 24 cents...

 

[Anewman]

Come on, now you're being ridiculous. You only need to buy 10 of them to get it to come out to a nice round figure - 9.90

But you could also buy five and it will round off to the nickel, sorry I cant do the math for you but I am sure it will

 

[coolbeans]

we have to keep it long enough for me to cash in all my pennies that are in my change jar!! and what about all the pennies from Heaven, how will I know when my Dad is thinking about me. (he drops one once in a while for me to find, his way of adding to the Disney fund..)

 

[wdw4us2]

Keep the penny!

Back in the early 1980's when everyone was hording pennies, the government decided that the military stationed in Germany did not need pennies while there was a shortage. So, everytime we went to a commisary or PX we were rounded up or down. Inevitably, it seemed as though I was on the rounded up end more often than the rounded down.

We also got stuck with all the Susan B. Anthony dollars when everyone in the U.S. rejected them. They sent all the paper one dollar bills back to the U.S. and we had to use the SAB quarters, as we called them.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

I'm all for getting rid of the penny.

This reminds me of something else; when I was in Denmark, I really liked that sales tax is included in the sticker prices. If you buy a book and its sticker price says 129 kroner, then that is what you pay. The tax is already there. I wish we could do that here! It makes it easier.

 

[Diane]

I think we should keep the penny, but stop making those dollar coins that no one seems to want/use!

 

[Anewman]

I think we should keep the penny, but stop making those dollar coins that no one seems to want/use!

We actually use them to play poker, no need for chips.

 

[I Love Pluto]

Keep the penny. What about the phrase "A penny saved is a penny earned".
It somehow doesn't sound right "A nickel saved is a nickel earned".

Nickels from heaven? Hmmm....

 

[Charade]

I read somewhere that it costs the government 1.4 cents to make a penny.

Time to GO!

For the first time in U.S. history, the cost of manufacturing both a penny and a nickel is more than the 1-cent and 5-cent values of the coins themselves. Skyrocketing metals prices are behind the increase, the U.S. Mint said in a letter to members of Congress last week.

The Mint estimates it will cost 1.23 cents per penny and 5.73 cents per nickel this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The cost of producing a penny has risen 27% in the last year, while nickel manufacturing costs have risen 19%.

 

[TheGoofster]

Anybody else want to add something? Perhaps something that makes a lot of cents?

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

I have to say the only time I would miss the pennies is when I do the pressed penny machines. Other than that I don't really care one way or the other as long as they don't do away with them until I get rid of all my change!

 

[pogo791]

I voted "I don't really care either way" in part because - living outside the US - it obviously wouldn't affect me, but also because I can't see it happening in the US any time soon.

However, there is one country where this step has already been taken. When the euro was first introduced back in 2002, Finland decided that they would not use the one- or two-cent coins at all. Therefore, ever since 2002, we have rounded off all sums to the nearest 5. We've got along quite nicely since then, and it's a relief not having to paw through a small pile of small coins to get together enough for a newspaper or whatever.

 

[shortbun]

I have to say the only time I would miss the pennies is when I do the pressed penny machines. Other than that I don't really care one way or the other as long as they don't do away with them until I get rid of all my change!

No more pressed pennies? Whaaaaaa!

 

[Stitchfans]

id keep the penny, heck all those pennies add up!

exactly. If I am running low on cash I've been known to count out my pennies to come up with the rest of the bill.