what if they sop using pennies??

Wisconsin

Just watched the evening news, and this may not be anything you haven't heard, but they are talking about ending the use of pennies in our money system. What would this do to the hobbby. Would it be mass hoarding, or would less people collect pennies, as they would be a forgoten item??

KoinKollector

Are you British?

BSqr

sop = standard operating procedure??? JK

gemseeker

I thought that idea was being put forth by someone in the US Treasury so that penny minting costs would be eliminated from the Mint's budget. I guess the main impact would be on mining industries (such as zinc and nickel, etc.) It probably would trigger some kinds of hoarding. When you stop creating something that impact usually happens.

robertpr

They've been talking about this forever. I predict they will never sop using pennies

BlueCole

They ought to stop making them, until people start using those from their jars. In about five years, start reminting them.

B.

danreller

I just returned from a military base in Japan that eliminated the use of pennies since I arrived there which was in Jun of 1998. They would round down .01, .02, to .00 and round up .03 and .04 to .05 . My family loved it. The Penny has gotten to the point that it's value is so small that it's not worth the effort to fool with.

Advertiser's of the "old school" that still like the $1.99, $5.99, $99.99 tactic that is .01 Cent from the "psychological" $2, $6, and $100 amount will still detest, but, they have to put "new glasses" on and think $1.95, $5.95 and $99.95 to play their game.

Gemseeker has brought up an interesting perspective, i.e. the mining impact that I don't know enough about to make an informed decision about.

From a Coin Collector perspective... I would like to see the Lincoln Cent make it to the year 2009 just to see it last a Hundred Years.

We have to begin thinking though that "after 2009" perhaps Yes the Cent is obsolete.

Dan

itsnotjustme

Eliminate general circulation strikes now. Continue mint set & proof set production until 2009, put the wheat reverse on it for that year, make a stain finish proof, and call it a day (or century).

stujoe

They eliminated the cent on base when I was stationed in Korea during 1995-96. They did the exact same type of rounding there and I liked it too.

Mrpawn

If I have any say ( I don't ) the cent will go on forever. I like the Lincoln cent but would like to see a new design for 2010 and beyond.

Jr

fcloud

We can write checks or use plastic. Round up or down. But we will lose in the long run. Collectors will lose the Lincoln cent which is where many new collectors begin.
Tony

presleyh

It is a useless coin. Maybe we should re-evaluate the dollar and set it at the 1960 value. Suddenly everyone would pull out their coppers and start buying cookies two for a penny like when I was a kid. A coke bottle was worth 3 cents and you could get a whole sack of candy for 2 or 3 coke bottles. The dollar coin would buy 2 gallons of gas. The kennedy half would be a good tip coin at the lunch counter. Hmmmm.......

dldallen

Where I come from, we only sop with bread. You know, clean up the extra gravy or drippings left on the plate when you already ate everything else. Them pennys just don't soak up enough juice for me and they are hard on the teeth I still like collecting them though. Cents are pretty hard to keep and handle so I'm not sure how much hoarding would go on. The super grades need to be sealed and saved pretty early on in order to keep them that way. Dave

Bulldog

Law of "Supply and Demand". They don't make them anymore. then we all save them. Price goes up (at least for our grand children).

Better start loading up on bank roll, BU, Reds....LOL

danreller

Fcloud,

I understand. I started with the pennies in the Sixties when I was young and first started collecting. Old pennies though are absent from today's circulation. I'm at a quandry at introducing my 14 and 9 year old daughters to coin collecting and stimulating the interest I had at their age. But, they are interested in the State Quarters and actively collect them. I have had success at showing them "grade", but, not with the fervor I had. It's because they have not enough time to wear like "in the old days with silver" But, I continue to "educate and inspire".

I think with good leadership at the Mint, they can come up with great ideas in the future to continue the interest in coins. By God, the old collectors "hope they do" to keep the interest continuing. Without the new collectors "we're trading among ourselves with a declining view in sight. I hope that's not the case.

We have to take the "Blinders off" and accept the needs of the future. I like the idea of making the Cents to 1909 "Special".

Dan

relayer

Actually pretty soon you'll have to start worrying about when we go to a completly cashless society and all coins are eliminated.

DaveG

I haven't checked the mintage figures, but I wouldn't be surprised if the CoinStar machines aren't already having an impact on cent mintage.

I live in the NYC suburbs and lots of local grocery stores have CoinStars; I see lots of folks emptying quart jars of cents and other small change into them. Over the past year or two I've noticed a substantial increase in old cents in circulation. I get a wheat cent in change at least once a month; I see a lot of red BU cents from the 60s and 70s; I probably get a silver dime or quarter in change once every two months.

As far as eliminating the cent, a lot of the smaller stores I shop in round up or down - it's mostly the chain stores that still give exact change.

cladking

Relatively few people now get a start from collecting the cents from circulation.
They're probably fun to collect, but some of the memorials are extremely diffi-
cult to find in change so there is little chance of completing a collection. Most of
the folders being sold are the nickel, dime, and quarter from what I've seen.
Eliminating the cent from production would spur many people to update the sets
they quit working on in the mid 60's, or to start a set they've long put off or ig-
nored. In the short run it would be extremely good for the collecting of cents. In
the long run the issue becomes more complicated, but the cent has really been
obsolete for nearly thirty years.

The result of the elimination of the cent would be to cost every consumer in the
country about a half dollar per year in rounding costs. There would be many hours
and many dollars added to our lives in removing this burden however. Most of us
would save at least several minutes per year waiting in lines as someone counts
pennies or makes change. The average savings would average many dollars for all
of us. The mint would be far more efficient and their die shop would no longer be
back logged. With the added time they could improve the quality of the coinage.

commoncents

If they sop using pennies, does anyone think that my State tax, which is 6% will be rounded down to 5% ? Or that a 2% school tax will be rounded down to 0 ? If they sop using pennies EVERYONE will pay more for EVERYTHING. I hope it doesn't happen, but if it does, you will remember reading this every time you open your wallet.

LucyBop

What if they stopped using pennies???? That makes no cents at all..... And bring back the Franklin!

flaminio

<< <i>If they sop using pennies, does anyone think that my State tax, which is 6% will be rounded down to 5% ? Or that a 2% school tax will be rounded down to 0 ? If they sop using pennies EVERYONE will pay more for EVERYTHING. I hope it doesn't happen, but if it does, you will remember reading this every time you open your wallet. >>



With all due respect, you're exceedingly misinformed about what you're talking about. No one is talking about removing the cent as a denomination; only the removal of the cent as a separate circulating coin. Firstly, only cash transactions would be affected: check, credit cards, PayPal, etc. would be unchanged. Secondly, in all cases only the final total of a transaction would be rounded to the nearest 5c, not each individual item. The most one would be expected to pay extra for a single transaction would be 2c. Furthermore, over the course of many transactions, you would sometimes pay a cent or two more, sometimes a cent or two less. The net result is no change in your wallet (pun intended).

bigtonydallas

Why not bring back the two cent and three cent? That way you would only lose 1 cent at the most. You could make change with these two coins. The only amount you could not use is .01! Maybe that would generate an interest in the old coins of these two denominations!!!


WOW BAD IDEA! I had to edit this cause I had a flash of some dumb cashier trying to use the two and three cent coins!!!!! lol