Has the venerable $.01 piece outlived its usefulness? Check out the website for some of the arguments in favor of eliminating the penny. What do you think? Also check out this guys hilarious rant against the penny.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Is it time to Retire the Penny
Has the venerable $.01 piece outlived its usefulness? Check out the website for some of the arguments in favor of eliminating the penny. What do you think? Also check out this guys hilarious rant against the penny.
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47 comments:
I agree with the arguments to get rid of the penny, but I think a big reason of why we won't is that it seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth even though it could be wort a whole lot.
I agree with the arguments to eliminate the penny. The process would be hard, but most of the pennies today drop out of circulation anyway when they end up in piggy banks or even trash cans.
The penny should stay. The argument that the penny wastes time is not valid because we are not purchasing items during our work hours - we are using them in our leisure time. Also, the calculations made for the total salary lost do not apply. The hours used are from seconds gathered throughout the year, not from one day. You don't work for twelve seconds everyday, cumulate the time at the end of the year, and get paid.
Another reason why we must keep the penny is to save businesses. You never see item x for $15.00 nor item y for $13.60. You always see item x for $14.99 and item y for $13.59. If the penny is eradicated, then such prices cannot exist. Businesses will never round the prices up. They will then round the prices down to the nearest denomination, which will be $.05 (nickels). Let's say a hundred million items are purchased each day with a loss of $.04 of each item. (100,000,000)($.04) = $4,000,000/day (I think) of lost profits. Quite a lot of money $.01 can save.
The penny should be eliminated because wastes time and money. Most people don't even use it, leaving their pennies to collect dust in piggy banks. Sentimental and historical value seem to be the only arguments in favor of the penny.
I agree with some of the reasons on why the penny should be eradicated, such as how the value of the penny is less that the cost to make it, but I still find that the penny is necessary to the economy. Pennies are often given out as change when people make purchases, so without it how will we get our change from purchases that cost like $19.99. A penny may not seem to be much, but once added it could be worth a lot. Also the penny also helps businesses make sales through psychological tricks, for example when you see something that cost $19.99 your often more likely to purchase it than if it were to cost you $20.00.
I do not believe in eliminating the penny. The penny is a part of American heritage, and the idea of eliminating it will just lead to the idea of eliminating the nickel, dime, quarter, and so on and so forth. If we believe a 1 cent piece is an irritating or time-wasting nuisance, what is to stop us from calling a 5-cent or 10-cent piece the same?
I agree that the penny should be eliminated, but on the other side of the argument, I recognize the importance of the sentimental value of the penny, which should never be undermined. Despite this, the loss of 70 million dollars a year for something so insignificant is staggering. Furthermore, with the elimination of the penny, the taxpayer money gained could be redirected to a new coinage that has more use.
I think eliminating the penny is an okay idea. Pennies are just there most of the time, taking up space in my purse. That said, the reason I wouldn't like it being eliminated is because of the rounding. Obviously prices are going to be rounded up, not down and I , and probably most people, would rather buy something that costs 2.99 rather than 3.00, because it just seems cheaper.
I disagree with eliminating the penny. The penny may be time-consuming to use, but it is an important part of America's background. Additionally, a penny could be a good way to save money. If you saved all your pennies and put them in a piggy bank, you could save up a lot of money. Also, think about how hard it would be to eliminate the penny. Americans will be mad that there $75 in pennies are now useless.
I agree with the arguments about getting rid of the penny for three reasons. The first reason is that is costs more money to make the pennies then the actual value of the penny. Another reason is that it is a waste of time having to deal with the penny because it takes to much time to complete a transaction. Finally because when people get a penny they either toss it or put it in a piggy bank which defeats the penny's purpose. Even though all the reasons are good reasons to eliminate the penny, they probably will not because then it would be a big hassle, and the penny also has a historical value connecting to Abe Lincoln.
I do agree with the arguments to eliminate pennies. Because as the man said, it wastes money to make a coin that no one uses. I do actually use pennies, but it's just because they are money and I'm not just throw them somewhere and break down more dollars. And it is really a waste of resources to make something that is useless.
I agree that we should get rid of the penny and then i don't. i agree because if it cost more money to make a penny than what it is worth... well thats kinda silly. However, There would need to be a whole new set of changes in the way we exchange money. pricing structures would have to change. there could be no $99.99, because if i give you $100, how am i supposed to get my change? Also taxes would have to be changed so that everything came out to the nearest 5 cent. so, really it would just be more trouble than it is worth to retire the penny.
I agree with the people who says that the penny should be retired because many people don't use them. And like the video guy said, machines don't even take them. The government should really look into this idea, especially if its going to do any good towards our budget. Since this coin really isn't used, we're pretty much wasting millions of dollars. If the government and citizens think eliminating the penny will help the economy, then so be it. I believe in doing what's right when it comes down to everyones' money. All we can do is sit back and watch what happens. May the better decision win.
I am all for the penny, but when it costs more money to make one than it is actually worth, it is clearly time to discontinue it. 10 billion dollars it a lot of money. It could be used for a myriad of other purposes that actually benefit society. Plus, if prices were rounded to the nearest ten, transactions would finish much more quickly than they do now.
I would have to agree that the penny should be discontinued because people these days do not really care about a penny and it takes a lot of money to even produce all the pennies that are made each year. We could be using that money for some things that are far more important. This may cause prices to go up on the downside but payments will go a lot quicker and be more accurate.
Just today I saw a handful pennies lying around on classroom floors and in the hallways. I think the penny should be eliminated on the basis that it costs more to make a penny, than what it's actually worth. But on the other hand, the penny has a lot of historical value. Other than that reasoning, I do agree that the penny should be eliminated.
I think the penny should not be abolished because of many reasons. The charity thing caught my eye, why do I have to pay a person 5 or 10 cents when I can pay them a penny. I think each penny is still worth something in the monetary system. If you collect 50 pennies, in U.S.A it may mean nothing but in other countries, 50 cent can buy a lot. I think pennies should be made in a cheap way or reduce the amount in circulation, not abolish them completely.
My opinion is that people are just lazy. They dont want to make petty calculations during purchases, waste their precious time, or jingle around pennies that have become useless due to inflation. However, since the penny really does cost more than it's worth and has extremely low value, I agree that it should be discontinued. Yes, it may be a complicated transition, but most likely worth the effort. Prices will obviously be rounded up, not down, but no more of the "only 9.99-under ten dollars!" nonsense.
P.S. for the people who are sentimentally attached to seeing Lincoln's profile on pennies that aren't even picked up off the sidewalk anymore, I'm sure we can find another place to put him...probably on something that actually has some value. So he'll be a step up from worthless :)
I agree pennies with the arguments to get rid of the penny, especially since to majority of people the penny is seen as useless. Yet there are also reasons to keep the penny such as it is part of US history and without penny price of everything would have to become even.
I agree pennies with the arguments to get rid of the penny, especially since to majority of people the penny is seen as useless. Yet there are also reasons to keep the penny such as it is part of US history and without penny price of everything would have to become even.
I hate to admit it, but I do believe it is time we get rid of the penny. Though it does hold a lot of sentimental meaning to US citizen, it is not worth the cost. With the economy in the shape it is, is there really an excuse for the government to waste money? There answer is no. We can no longer waste money on the penny and besides that they are annoying. You never use them, they slow down lines at stores due to that one person who has to have correct change, and almost every American is willing to throw them out their car windows.
I agree that the Penny needs to be taken out of circulation, however i dont believe it will be. Not only would it require alot of work to gain the public opinion necessary to remove the penny from circulation but it would also require alot of work on the part of businesses to alter all their prices and cash registers to work without pennies.
I disagree with eliminating the penny because of the fact that our governemnt are not aloud to put fixed prices on goods. Because of this, a company is aloud to make something cost say $1.53. Well here lies a problem. What do we do about that 2 cents that is left over if we eliminate the penny. Because if the penny is gone for the consumer, it is also gone for the producer meaning the producer will not be able to give exact change back to someome who buys a product for $1.53.
I agree that the penny should be eliminated from the currency. First of all, it is not used anywhere, except to make souvenir pennies at museums, but those machines can be changend to use other coins. Secondly, since it is not used in any transactions, we are wasting money and resources by making it. It is also a waste of time whenever we start fumbling with pennies at cashier counters. Whenever I see a penny on the ground, I pick it up and then put it somewhere else, because I don't want to carry it around because I can't use it.
First off, I love how he said he got attacked by a baby but ANYWAYS..
I agree that the penny should be retired simply because it is useless. If it costs more to make than to use, people should see that it's a problem. Also, no one ever uses pennies anyways, sure you always get them back but you always manage to lose them because they're not good for anything. I bet if the penny was retired someone would pay good money just to have one someday.
One penny alone may not be worth a great deal, but united, they stand fairly strong. Most people are much, and i underline, italicize, and bold "much", more willing to give someone a mere penny than a nickel or dime. If everyone in the united states were to give the government a penny, they would have at least a total of $300 million. On a side note, 15 cents a day from every person would take away the federal deficit.
Now, if people were to get rid of the penny, prices would probably round up, which of course means inflation. And with inflation what happens to the nickel? Would it be worth the same price as the penny? Then we shall get rid of it too. After that? The dime will be gone. Next thing we know, we'll be getting rid of the $1 bill.
But, if prices happen to round down, individuals will spend less for every item. Now wait a minute... Isn't the stimulus plan to make the people spend more so that more money would facilitate into the economy and confidence will build. Now remember what I said about every individual giving a penny, what if every individual spent a penny less. Thats $300 million dollars right there that isn't helping the government or the economy.
Besides, we talked about supply and demand. The equilibrium point is usually pretty precise. What if we are forced to diverge from that point a bit too much? We'll either be faced with a surplus or a lack in supply. Neither is best for economic growth.
To get rid of the pennies lack of value is to go through deflation, and make everything cost as much as it used to be back then. But who would want that?
I say we allow those people who make the pennies to keep their jobs, as we survive this recession. When we get on more stable ground and a more agreeable public, we can then weight the costs and benefits.
Now aside from what the rather overdramatic guy had stated (and fast, but not really), I do not accede to the fact that the penny should be eliminated. Although they currently have more opportunity costs, the marginal cost of getting rid of it outweighs the marginal benefit.
Plus when the peeny is eliminated what will happen to prices, esppecially the chessy commericals that sell thier products at $19.99? Well they would round up of course! Busniesses are always for the profit so there is not too much consequence, but for consumers there is a huge loss, since there are so many of them in the U.S.A. Also to compensate for the loss of the power to round to the nearest cent, which in turn will cause the U.S. Mint to mint for nickels, which cost more, the U.S. will have to round to the nearest five cents and normally up too. This will create an influx in prices, even so minisule, but everyone knows that small things build up. Also inflation of the economy is good, so to decrease the costs to keep the nickel and peeny at relatively the same price is to go through deflation, a bad omen in the economy.
I agree that we should get rid of the penny. If it costs more to make it than its worth then there's really no point to making it. And most of the time people just end up throwing them away because they think that they are annoying or worthless, which is also losing money, so i see no point in keeping it around.
I agree with the argument that pennies are almost worthless. Pennies are not carried around as much as the other coins. We see lots of pennies on roads and floors. People give negligible importance to a penny. Then why make them ? I say we stop producing pennies.
I do not agree with eliminating the penny. For one reason, there is the fact that everything would have to be rounded up. For example instead of gas costing something like $2.55 a gallon it would cost $2.60, and we know that no company will ever round down. That means that there would be an immediate surge of inflation. It also seems that eliminating the penny would be more trouble than its worth because you would have to have all of America come in and exchange their pennies for different currency.
i agree with the idea of getting rid of pennies, beacuse its a waste of time and money and People barely uses penny. The cost to eliminate is the main reason to people not getting rid of it.
we should send all the pennies we got and sent to the govt so they can use that money to pay our debt instead of destroying.
I reluctantly agree that the penny should be removed from circulation, due to their lack of practical uses. Products that are still paid for primarily in cash, such as food from vending machines, probably have prices rounded to the nearest nickel because the businessmen who own the vending machines do not believe that the benefit of extracting a few more cents from customers outweighs the cost of possibly turning away some pennyless customers. Pennies now have very little monetary value, and due to inflation, will become even less valuable. To help the consumer, the elimination of the penny will also prevent businesses from putting up prices like $9.99 so that they can state that the product costs less than $10. Although pennies seem to have become an inherent part of the American culture, they simply have little practical use anymore and are causing the United States to lose too much money each year.
My opinion about the penny is that we should get rid of the penny. Right now in this economy, the penny is a very useless type of currency. Many people have a hard time keeping track of pennies because they only cost 1 cent. A dollar is one hundred pennies and businesses do not want to count one hundred pennies for a dollar. we have been using the penny for over centuries, so it would be hard to adapt to life without the penny.
i agree with the argument made in the video. Pennies are a waste of money and time and noone really cares about them. We usually find them laying on the streets or trash cans. Therefore its a waste of federal money and resources
A lot of the arguments make sense but if the penny is eliminated then prices would be rounded to the nearest 5 cents, which would generally be rounded up. Not only does this cost the consumer more money but that means we would most likely be using more nickels which cost more money than pennies to make. The time that transactions with pennies takes is almost always on the buyer's free time and so productivity would not be sacrificed, thus making the penny a little less costly.
I think the penny should be taken out of circulation of our currency.
From what the guy on the video said. If it can save us money that can be placed into other projects that could produce more jobs then the penny should be gone.
Yes, the penny should go. Will the penny go? No the penny will not go because although it would save Americans money I beleive Americans have formed an attachment to the system of how things are. Some people just refuse to change certain aspects of their familiar lives. I am all for saving money by making our monetary system more efficient so maybe by the time I'm, say twice my age, the country won't be in debt that is impossible to pay off ever.
I can see and understand both sides of this argument because I feel like eliminating the penny would lead to eliminating coins in general, but I agree more so with the idea of eliminating the penny. It cost more than it is worth to make, and most people just toss their pennies to the ground or other areas because they feel that they are worthless. This leads to the fact that pennies should be eliminated.
I think people are making a huge deal over something that is not a real issue. It would also take a lot of time and effort to take the penny out of circulation. So, if time is money, then how much money did this guy loose making this video? Or wait, he's selling shirts, so how much money did I loose? Lets see there are 221,844 views and it is 4 minutes long so that's about $105,884.29 this guy has taken from us. If we are gonna apply his money rule, then his rant just cost us all a lot of money.
D.J. Hicks
7th Period
I disagree with the argument to get rid of the penny. Even though it holds little value and in most cases hardly used, it still is necessary because it acts as a way to give even amounts when purchasing items. I myself am a cashier and enjoy when customers dig for pennies in order to give me the exact amount of change, using the total of $7.13 as an example. If I’m given 7 dollars, one dime (or two nickels), and three pennies no hassle of getting change is necessary.
I disagree with the idea of getting rid of the penny. Even though it is worth 1/100 of a dollar, it still has its practical uses. Coinstar for example can recycle all of those "useless" pennies and return them back to you in bills. Also, a few pennies can save you from "breaking a bill", reducing the amount of coin change you have and instead gives you more bills.
I do not think that we should get rid of the penny. Although it is only one cent, there are a lot of people who could use that cent to help them get by. Many homeless people on the street would love to have a few pennies and wouldnt call it useless if it were given to them. I feel that if they get rid of the penny all the extra cents that are odd, like $2.33, im sure that they will round the money up to $2.50 instead of rounding down to $2.00. I see this deletion of the peny as a taking extra money away from the consumers pocket.
It's difficult to pinpoint my exact position on this issue, because both sides of the argument make valid points. While, like John Green said in the video, it is a waste of money to make the penny, especially since it is rarely ever used, except to perhaps scratch off a lottery ticket or take up space, it would take a complete economic overhaul to make everything round up and never hit an odd number (or any other total in which you might need a penny.) Given the state of our economy, we should wait on eliminating the penny until we are on more stable economic ground. Right now we need more money being spent and used, not less.
i agree that the penny should be eliminated. the process to make a penny costs more than a penny is worth. i believe the penny is just an inconvenience.
I agree that pennies should be done away with. They are costing our nation $10 billion per year and are a waste of time during transactions. Most people nowdays are starting to use credit cards or checks for payments anyways so change will eventaully become a thing of the past.
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