In the 1980’s Army in Germany PX’s did not use Pennies. If the transaction ended in 1,2 they rounded down, 3,4 they rounded up.
No one missed them.
No one missed them.
Get rid of the penny?
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Me too, JK. I only keep quarters around for parking meters.
I use self checkouts to rid myself of coins. I make a small game of it.
Ever see someone dump a jar of cents into a Coin-Star machine in a store?
I want to throw myself in front of the tray and yell, "These are commonly set to take 20% of the total".
I use self checkouts to rid myself of coins. I make a small game of it.
Ever see someone dump a jar of cents into a Coin-Star machine in a store?
I want to throw myself in front of the tray and yell, "These are commonly set to take 20% of the total".
I don't think I've seen one of those in years... I finally opened a bank account last year and decided to get rid of a decade plus of coins at the bank while opening the account, so they have a coin counter, I know that.
Then again we don't have bottle return either. I know when I was young and living in Maine they had machines that you could drop bottles/cans into and get change. Haven't done that in years.
No it was still in use up to the Euro. I know they had a half Pfennig at one time but I never had one.
+1 all the change in my pocket goes in a jar when I get home, I don't like carrying it. No checks though.
i have been to many "poor" countries. Most do not have a coin in circulation worth less than a US penny.
We should follow Canada. Get rid of all paper money below $5, and the lowest denomination coin should be 5 cents.
We should follow Canada. Get rid of all paper money below $5, and the lowest denomination coin should be 5 cents.
Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
I have a big change container that's used to collect quarters, dimes and nickels. Takes me about nine months to accumulate $200. That's when I haul it to the credit union and deposit it in my account. The last two times I did this - I first bought Amsoil - then afterwards purchased HPL.
A Canadian fellow said to me, when the $1 (Loonie) was newish, "You can have a pocket full of them and still have no money".
I'd bet most of us could manage our pocket money better than that guy.
Over the years, pennies have been made with various metals, including steel. I remember WWII pennies were not made with copper, as copper was needed for the war effort.
Since the early 1980s, pennies have been made with zinc coated with copper. They are 95% to 98% zinc, but I can't recall the exact percentage right now.
1943 pennies were steel. 1944 pennies were made of brass recycled from cartridge cases.
Coin star didn't use to charge anything if you got a gift card back instead of cash. Depended on if they had a gift card you could use of course. I have used them in the past. Most banks don't want a jar of coins anymore either - part of the problem really.
Similar here ... I carry some folding money and change, if ever I have some, goes into a jar which gets changed at a coin changer now and then. I only run pennies, nickels, and dimes through the changer. I keep the quarters and exchange them for folding money when people in my building need coins for the washers. I guess I'm a money changer ...
I've stopped using checks altogether except for my housekeeper who prefers them.
Patman
Staff member
When we started getting the $1 and $2 coins up here I started putting all of my coins into an old photograph film container. Now I save my coins for using at the coin op car wash (although most of them now take credit)
I don't use plastic on anything under $25; it's easier to spot fraudulent charges on your statement, so I always carry $$$$.
Owen Lucas
$100 Site Donor 2023
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The savings won't be that much relatively speaking regarding gov't budgets, about $180MM a year, but DOGE is a cumulative project. My issue this could be bad for PR, but that cats out of the bag. The people that actually use change, I'm interested in their opinion, maybe it doesn't really matter...
Keep the pennies for collectors as proof sets which probably make a massive profit.
Keep the pennies for collectors as proof sets which probably make a massive profit.
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Post #34: Once, during heavy covid times, a Popeye's wouldn't handle cash so I had to pay my $5.40 with a credit card.
I'd love to see a graph of increased plastic use (or decreased specie use) 2018 to present.
Just remembering......On the 6th Ave. side of Rockefeller Center was a money museum. Still there?, don't know.
I know people with barrels of coins. They buy pre-terminated coin rolls (one end is already closed).
The design is bad as plain "coin wrappers" (which banks still give you) take up no room.
Then they don't roll 'em!
People, get angle iron and a piece of dowel. Tape the dowel to the depth which corresponds to 50 pennies or dimes and 40 nickels or quarters. Line 'em up...roll 'em up.
How difficult can it be?
THIS IS TRUE: A shop keeper wouldn't take some rolled coins from me. She claimed people were using spacers!
I'd love to see a graph of increased plastic use (or decreased specie use) 2018 to present.
Just remembering......On the 6th Ave. side of Rockefeller Center was a money museum. Still there?, don't know.
I know people with barrels of coins. They buy pre-terminated coin rolls (one end is already closed).
The design is bad as plain "coin wrappers" (which banks still give you) take up no room.
Then they don't roll 'em!
People, get angle iron and a piece of dowel. Tape the dowel to the depth which corresponds to 50 pennies or dimes and 40 nickels or quarters. Line 'em up...roll 'em up.
How difficult can it be?
THIS IS TRUE: A shop keeper wouldn't take some rolled coins from me. She claimed people were using spacers!
Google says they're made of 97.5% zinc with 2.5% copper plating but zinc and of course copper are more expensive than stainless. I believe I read somewhere that said mexican stainless coins are made of 430 grade. it's not a fastener, not submerged under water, not meant to be a blade steel, or anything that requires better more expensive metal. These old stainless coins are still gleaming without a spec of rust and every single one that I've picked off the ground never had rust either. They could cheapen the stainless grade even more as 430 grade is cheap but not the cheapest, it has 16% chromium. I believe 409 is the cheapest grade and it has a less at around 12% but I believe that would still be fine. 409 stainless although lower in chromium is commonly used in automotive exhaust systems. The 20 year old 340k factory stainless exhaust on my truck still looks great when I'm underneath it with only some discoloration that would likely come right off with a wire wheel. Granted I'm not 100% sure it's made out of 409 but it very likely is as it's the most common for exhausts and I don't think cheap GM would sacrifice a penny of profit to give us better stainless when 99% of buyers don't know of grades or even care to. I don't see why US coins made of 409 or similar being kept in a typically dry pocket or purse wouldn't not fare well.
I live in a remote area. In 22 years, I have never had a Halloween Trick or Treat kid show up. But I keep some half dollars on hand if one ever shows up. Unlike candy, coins do not spoil.
I have a nice leather pouch for coins and carry cash always and use it primarily unless we get into triple digit amounts. And yes, we should only have $1 denomination in coins. Maybe $5 as well. And we should ABSOLUTELY have currency.
When I was a kid you could buy something with a penny. Now you are lucky to find penny candy for a dime. Neither the penny nor the nickel are worth using any longer. Sadly, I cannot not pick up a penny when I see one.
