Bring back the half cent!!
saintguru
Posts: 7,727 ✭✭✭
Why not?
It's equally as useful as the 1c.
It's equally as useful as the 1c.
0
Comments
<< <i>Profit — The Mint has historically earned about $20 million a year on pennies. Though many argue it currently makes a loss, pro-penny organizations still maintain it is a profit. >>
When the half-cent was eliminated in 1857, it had the purchasing power of about a dime in today's money. So if half-cents were unnecessary back then, dimes are unnecessary today (and nickels and pennies extra unnecessary). A penny is twice a half cent; a quarter is 2½ times a dime; that's close enough; but really we should bring back the double-dime and eliminate the quarter. Making the new 20c the goldtone of the Sackies would be sufficient to avoid confusion.
Eliminate pennies, nickels, and dimes. Bring back the 20c. Eliminate quarters. Make new $2 and $5 coins. Kill rag-bucks and rag-fivers. That'd make for a fairly efficient coinage system.
I say, make a good cent or don’t make them at all.
<< <i>I could make an argument for eliminating everything below a quarter. >>
People might go for it if it came with a reduction in taxes and was marketed well.
<< <i>Eliminate pennies, nickels, and dimes. Bring back the 20c. Eliminate quarters. Make new $2 and $5 coins. Kill rag-bucks and rag-fivers. That'd make for a fairly efficient coinage system. >>
The vending machine lobby would probably kill the proposal to swap the quarter for a 20 cent piece.
<< <i>
<< <i>I could make an argument for eliminating everything below a quarter. >>
People might go for it if it came with a reduction in taxes and was marketed well.
<< <i>Eliminate pennies, nickels, and dimes. Bring back the 20c. Eliminate quarters. Make new $2 and $5 coins. Kill rag-bucks and rag-fivers. That'd make for a fairly efficient coinage system. >>
The vending machine lobby would probably kill the proposal to swap the quarter for a 20 cent piece. >>
I'd be hoping that the introduction of $2 and $5 coins would inspire them to put higher priced items in the machines, thereby making them more money, overall.
What makes 20 cent pieces so much more compelling than quarters?
<< <i>I don't see any compelling reason to remove what may be the most widely circulated coin denomination.
What makes 20 cent pieces so much more compelling than quarters? >>
A couple things:
1) 20c is the equivalent of 1c in 1857; therefore it's the lowest "needed" denomination.
2) If we had a 20c coin, we wouldn't need nickels, which is the least cost effective of all current coins. Dimes are unnecessary, but at least they're profitable.
The 20c denomination could have been the "workhorse" coin of today, just as the quarter is. As usual, when the denomination was introduced in 1875, the Government failed to do the most obvious thing: discontinue the quarter. The quarter is a weird denomination, and an artifact from the old "pieces of eight". Aside from Canada (which has the same roots as US) I can't think of another country that has such a denomination.
I'm just talking here, I don't realistically expect our government to actually do anything.
<< <i>1) 20c is the equivalent of 1c in 1857; therefore it's the lowest "needed" denomination. >>
What happened in 1857 doesn't really impact what may or may not be needed today IMO. We needed gold and silver for intrinsic value back then and, as it turned out, we don't need intrinsic value at all today.
<< <i>2) If we had a 20c coin, we wouldn't need nickels, which is the least cost effective of all current coins. Dimes are unnecessary, but at least they're profitable. >>
Why would we need nickels if quarters were the lowest circulating denomination? Are you basing this "need" on the situation in 1857 as well?
20c is the equivalent of 1c in 1857; therefore it's the lowest "needed" denomination.
At the current inflation rate, in a few years 25c will be the equivalent of 1c in 1857, so that would be a reason to keep minting quarters.
Unless inflation suddenly ends, no coinage system is likely to be efficient in the long run.
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
<< <i>Eliminate pennies, nickels, and dimes. Bring back the 20c. Eliminate quarters. Make new $2 and $5 coins. Kill rag-bucks and rag-fivers. That'd make for a fairly efficient coinage system. >>
This would mean that cash transactions would be rounded to the nearest 20 cents?
That would make half dollars useless. If something costs 20c and you hand the cashier a half, how would they make change?
You'd still need the dime in this scenario, with all cash transactions rounded to the nearest dime. There's no reason why non-cash transfers (credit/debit cards, checks) couldn't still be paid down to the cent.
<< <i>.
Unless inflation suddenly ends, no coinage system is likely to be efficient in the long run. >>
Why not, just increase the value of the coins into multiple dollars as suggested above. 25C, 50C (Make smaller and lighter), $1, 5$ etc....
If this is an issue ANA members care about, is this a torch that the ANA should pick up?
<< <i>Why not, just increase the value of the coins into multiple dollars as suggested above. 25C, 50C (Make smaller and lighter), $1, 5$ etc.... >>
With no cents and nickels, you could easily have a 10c, 20c, 50c and $1 coin in increasing size, and all but the dime would be smaller than the coin today.
The 20c could be between the size of a cent and a nickel, the 50c about the size of today's quarter and the $1 about the size it is now, maybe slightly larger, to differentiate it more from the 50c piece.
lol
Al
<< <i>Why not?
>>
Too many additional varieties.
Ed. S.
(EJS)
What I really think is that a one mill coin is long overdue. I'm tired of being ripped off for 1/10 of a cent every time I buy gasoline!
If you buy exactly 10 gallons at a time, the total should come out to the penny!
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
<< <i>What I really think is that a one mill coin is long overdue. I'm tired of being ripped off for 1/10 of a cent every time I buy gasoline! >>
I remember seeing a 1 mill coin(at least I think that's what they were). They were made from paper and had a hole in the middle. I found a batch of them about 40 years ago and still remember what they looked like.
Another solution is to elminate cents and nickels. Drop the last digit. Inflation waits for no man.
<< <i>I agree with SG. Some places have quarter cent taxes, so we need a 1/4 cent too. >>
1/4 cents aren't enough. From Wikipedia:
Missouri has a 4.225% sales tax rate. Cities and counties may impose additional use taxes. Food has a sales tax rate of 3.225%.