Patman
Staff member
My girlfriend and I have a running joke when one of us complains about the price of something and then the other one will say “I remember when that used to cost a nickel!”
Get rid of the penny?
- Thread starter SC Maintenance
- Start date
My girlfriend and I have a running joke when one of us complains about the price of something and then the other one will say “I remember when that used to cost a nickel!”
dnewton3
Staff member
The more I read others' comments here, I think I'd be in support of converting the material to a low-grade S/S. Keep the "penny", but let it be lower cost to produce.
I agree that eliminating it and using the round up/down function would also suffice, but I prefer to keep the currency intact.
I agree that eliminating it and using the round up/down function would also suffice, but I prefer to keep the currency intact.
Some cashiers look at coins as if they're a foreign object, turning them around and upside down.
I’m in for getting rid of the penny, the nickel, the dime.
The dime is a physical pain in the arse, always getting lost under the seat, too small to wedge out of a cup holder.
Ideally the physical quarter would move up to be worth a half dollar. Then have only two coins, the Washington and the Anthony.
The dime is a physical pain in the arse, always getting lost under the seat, too small to wedge out of a cup holder.
Ideally the physical quarter would move up to be worth a half dollar. Then have only two coins, the Washington and the Anthony.
Lots of fun talking about coins and paper money but really it’s like talking about buggy whips. I did get screwed up at the car wash because their card tap reader didn’t work and had to get some coins from the bank. Even the Sally Ann has had a tap reader for years at their collection “kettle”.
I keep a few hundred dollars to pay the road plowing guy for the winter. ( part of the local underground economy). I don't carry coins any more. Even the gal who cuts my hair uses the iPhone Square reader.
As for preppers, each to his own.
I keep a few hundred dollars to pay the road plowing guy for the winter. ( part of the local underground economy). I don't carry coins any more. Even the gal who cuts my hair uses the iPhone Square reader.
As for preppers, each to his own.
They gave 100 cents on the dollar during covid when there was a coin shortage. Bet they and their affiliates charged end users for rolled coin though!
I stayed at a hotel that had quarter-run laundry machines but no dollar bill exchanger. Had to go to the front desk to make change.
Just send all those awful horrible terrible pennies, nickels and dimes you all hate to me and I will take care of them for you so you don't have to.
I don't see that. I only know of one place that does that, and they have a prominent sign that they'll round up/down to the nearest 5 cents for cash purchases only. But their receipts still have everything down to the penny and credit/debit purchases are clearly charged down to the penny. I think they just balance the registers every day and reconcile whatever difference they have for income/sales tax purposes. Sales taxes are always rounded up/down, but I'm sure they always just figure out what the sales tax should be based on the total amount collected. I've seen a few places that have penny trays for "spare a penny, take a penny".
I've seen the withdrawl of the penny in different countries. Visited Australia in 1992 and Canada in 2015 while they were in a transition period. But I think that was only for cash purchases. I looked up what is required in Canada, and down to cent is fine for non-cash purchases.
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/programs/about-canada-revenue-agency-cra/phasing-penny.html
When to round
Again, only cash transactions require rounding. Cheques and transactions using electronic payments—debit, credit and payments cards—do not need to be rounded, because they can be settled electronically to the exact amount.
For any cash payment, only the final amount (or equivalently, the change owed) should be subject to rounding.
It wasn't very common, but I remember some cities where parking meters took pennies up into maybe the late 1980s. However, nickels were typically the smallest denomination. I tried using pennies in some meters, and they would just eat them. I also remember when some meters had nickel/dime/quarter slots on the front and a knob turned to college rather than a single slot to the side where it was mechanically sucked in (I think those were battery powered).
The weirdest thing I remember was aluminum coins on an 80s visit to mainland China. They're horrible though. The weight can be insufficient for counting equipment. They bend too easily and take up a lot of room. But with that light weight some people did tricks with them. Some tried to demonstrate the surface tension of their water by floating one of these coin flat on the surface. Or some place where coin supposedly stuck to a surface. I had a US quarter in my pocket and that just fell right off.
It's really weird because we still pay for that, but there are so few places to actually get the redemption that most people just use municipal recycling. I think they're able to just bring in entire truckloads of recylables for redemption. I remember when there might be a place in the back (some sort of private business that contracted with the state recycling agency to collect) of maybe a supermarket that would do it. And the last place I remember that did it had an option for cash or maybe some sort of bonus if it was in the form of credit at the supermarket in the front. But those places weighed cans and bottles rather than counting them, even though we paid the redemption cost by the piece
The only time I remember a machine for recyling was this one at a warehouse style no-frills supermarket. It was only supposed to take standard 12 oz cans, although there are nonstandard cans (8 oz or bigger) with the same redemption cost. I think back then it was 2.5 cents per can. The machines only gave out nickels and it would then give out a nickel for each two cans inserted. The cans also needed to be relatively intact as they didn't accept crushed cans. Not sure what would happen for an odd number of cans.
I'm for dropping the penny.
Good idea. Regular mail should also only be delivered once/day.
If you pay in cash only, if you pay with card then you pay exact amount.
Small retailers, Coltons ( chain steak house)restaurant and others are charging 3.5% for a card doesn't matter card or debit. Live outside of a 25k town.
Last edited:
