Gothamist: When A Penny Costs More Than $.01

A.Robb

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 13:51:11 -0500

I keep them in my ol' lady's Coin Slot

volney

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 11:38:47 -0500

And it's your hope that said businesses will at least sometimes round their prices down to the lower nickel? O-kay.

jayKayEss

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 18:02:30 -0500

This is so dumb. They should just stop minting pennies, and merchants could round everything to the nearest nickel. This is what a lot of other countries have done. (Totally bizarre about the zinc lobby, BTW!)

Mothra

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:55:55 -0500

Until you can safely and untraceabley buy drugs and other black market goods in a cashless economy it ain't going to happen Brightliner.

Brightliner

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:48:08 -0500

Or we can just take the hint and start transitioning to a cashless economy.

Toby

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:58:57 -0500

I think there are a great many pennies in jars, bags, boxes, etc. just waiting to be put back in circulation. To many people they are just a nuisance coin something you either have too many of or two few of in your pocket depending on if it is before or after the $2.07 transaction you have just made.

Glenn

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:55:47 -0500

Pennies should be phased out. As soon as possible. It's too much worry over too little. "There is no escaping economic history: It takes nearly a dime today to buy what a penny bought back in 1950. Despite this, the U.S. Mint keeps churning out 1 billion pennies a month. Where do they go? Two-thirds of them immediately drop out of circulation, into piggy banks or - as The Times' John Tierney noted five years ago - behind chair cushions or at the back of sock drawers next to your old tin-foil ball. ... What's really behind America's clinging to the pesky penny? Nostalgia cannot be the answer; if we can give up the barbershop shave with its steam towels, we can give up anything. The answer, I think, has to do with zinc, which is what pennies are mostly made of; light copper plating turns them into red cents. The powerful, outsourcing zinc lobby - financed by Canadian mines as well as Alaskan - entices front groups to whip up a frenzy of save-the-penny mail to Congress when coin reform is proposed." -- William Saffire, June '04.

Mothra

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:41:31 -0500

I loved those Penny cartoons!