Decision to keep pennies in circulation

Evening all,

So in the UK recently they made the decision to keep pennies in circulation, and I'm curious as to why.

Most people would leave a penny on the floor, and surely the powers that be want a cashless currency system at some point in the near future. Why on earth keep them ? The argument that we keep them to stop businesses gaining an extra 1p just doesn't make logical sense, especially as prices are rising ALL the time.

So what is it ?

The one thing I thought it could be; Is it the metals the coins are made out of ? Could we be doing someone out of a hefty contract by binning them off ?

Answers on a postcard.
The winner will never be known.

a reply to: OwenTrousers

Years ago, a couple of decades even, I took my kids to Disneyland. A coke was 1.99. The time it took to make the change and hand back that stupid penny to all those people must certainly have cost more in labor than had they just charged a simple two bucks.

I began wondering about this here in the us 50 years ago. But I suppose that business is still thinking consumers are dumb enough to think that they are getting a deal because the dollar number has not clicked over to the next highest number, like gas at 3.99 a gallon instead of 4.00

In America, I can see it because we don't add tax to a product pre-sales... so a $4.99 sandwich can cost anywhere from $4.99 to over $6 depending on what state you buy it in and their local tax laws... Combined with the average person being petty as hell, you'd get a situation where your total comes to $5.27, and without pennies for change I guarantee someone would pay $5.30 and demand their 3 cents back- inevitably getting 5, costing the company an accounting headache on top of fluffed up customers.

But in the UK? I thought prices were listed with tax included.
Perhaps parliament gets a kickback from the huge expense incurred by manufacturing, documenting, recollecting, and destroying the old currency.

IMO nothing smaller than 25c should be in manufacture, and nothing smaller than $20 should be in print... Scrap pennies nickels and dimes and instead add $1, $5, and $10 coins.

Garbage fiat currencies.

My take,..... coins and notes are filthy by design, loaded with germs. They say a person touches their face how many times a day ? I believe I have heard its over a hundred times. Coins especially are usually carried in your right pocket on the side of your hip...... not too bad, but your notes are carried in your buttocks rear pockets inches from your planet name. Certainly this contaminates the notes. I virtually never touch money except for using my Debt or Credit cards. Which you could then on your way out, hit the entrances of the stores courtesy tissues rack used to sanitize shopping carts.

Pennies have outlived their usefulness, and started when they were being made of cheap metal instead of copper. A couple of decades ago. And yes the $ - .99 has certainly driven their continued use. Nuts huh....



a reply to: OwenTrousers

because as my granny used to say "look after the pennies because you can't make a pound with out them"

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
because as my granny used to say "look after the pennies because you can't make a pound with out them"

When granny was entering the workforce, a penny was probably worth closer to todays pound than todays penny.

a reply to: OwenTrousers

In Australia we got rid of the 1 and 2 cent coins years ago. It works out pretty good when filling up your tank and paying with cash. I've always made sure its just 2 cents over, cause then you get 2 cents off.. rather than if it was 3 cents over, then you have to pay the difference.

Of course it makes no real difference either way... but it's the principle!

a reply to: OwenTrousers
Because the public have a sentimental attachment to the idea of the ancient penny coin, and this government doesn't feel it can afford to drop any more popularity points than it has to.

The irony is that the penny has been abolished once already. That was the big headline when decimal currency came in, and the old penny (twelve to the shilling, twenty shillings to the pound) gave way to the new version (one hundred to the pound), which had a different abbreviation.
Even the name disappeared, at least in popular speech. As far as I'm aware, the new coin has spent most of the intervening decades being called "the one-pence piece".

originally posted by: OwenTrousers
Most people would leave a penny on the floor, and surely the powers that be want a cashless currency system at some point in the near future.

Two things.

1. Most people are wasteful if they throw their money away.
2. The march of the cashless society is because of convenience. In the cashless society there are still pennies.

Persoanlly, I am pleased that the coppers (pennies and two pence) remain. 100 pennies make a pound and if you look after the pennies the pounds will take care of themselves (to coin an old saying).

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: OwenTrousers

began wondering about this here in the us 50 years ago. But I suppose that business is still thinking consumers are dumb enough to think that they are getting a deal because the dollar number has not clicked over to the next highest number, like gas at 3.99 a gallon instead of 4.00

It's even worse. It's 3.99 and 9/10ths

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: OwenTrousers

began wondering about this here in the us 50 years ago. But I suppose that business is still thinking consumers are dumb enough to think that they are getting a deal because the dollar number has not clicked over to the next highest number, like gas at 3.99 a gallon instead of 4.00

It's even worse. It's 3.99 and 9/10ths

When we finally get gas stations to round off to the closest cent, then I'll start pushing for the elimination of the penny.

These days, gas prices can easily rise or fall by 20-30 cents overnight. The days when that little tenth of a cent made any difference ended somewhere near the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency.

a reply to: OwenTrousers

No idea.
We’ve abolished that copper piece here in Canada years ago.
Everything gets rounded to the nearest 5 cents when paying with cash.
With debit or credit you pay the posted price.
Example .97 cents with debit.
1.00 for cash.

originally posted by: Plotus
My take,..... coins and notes are filthy by design, loaded with germs. They say a person touches their face how many times a day ? I believe I have heard its over a hundred times. Coins especially are usually carried in your right pocket on the side of your hip...... not too bad, but your notes are carried in your buttocks rear pockets inches from your planet name. Certainly this contaminates the notes. I virtually never touch money except for using my Debt or Credit cards. Which you could then on your way out, hit the entrances of the stores courtesy tissues rack used to sanitize shopping carts.

Pennies have outlived their usefulness, and started when they were being made of cheap metal instead of copper. A couple of decades ago. And yes the $ - .99 has certainly driven their continued use. Nuts huh....



a reply to: OwenTrousers

Actually, germs cannot grow on a copper penny. They die almost immediately when they touch it. same with silver, I am not sure about nickle though, I did not study that metal.

The ink on paper money can kill some microbes also, but Not all like copper or silver does. Rubbing your hands with a copper piece kills all the bacteria on it, Microbes cannot grow on a properly seasoned cast iron pan either, it is the coating that form that kills it.

a reply to: OwenTrousers

I pick up pennies when I see them on the ground.

They need to implement gold in all currencies so they actually have real value.

a reply to: schuyler

Gives the impression of a very valuable commodity. I used to laugh at those gas wars that people would search out a price that was cheaper by a penny or so and then have to wait in a line to get it.

a reply to: OwenTrousers

I'm not sure about the UK but in the US our pennies are made out of literally the cheapest metal that can be produced, and it still has a melt value greater than the penny itself. The company that produces our pennies does so for a relatively small contract ( a couple million a year), and they do it out of service to the country, it's actually a huge hassle for them to deal with.

To be perfectly honest, the only reason we keep it around is because it's worth so little that people don't think twice about giving them to charity. As such, they basically fund a bunch of charities that would otherwise require tax dollars.

Pennies go straight into the whiskey jar, as do 2p and 5p's. It has got to the stage now where 1p and 2p's are pretty useless. I remember as a kid we used to go spend ha'pennies (1/2p, half pence) at the shop on sweets, I also remember them going out of circulation, it just meant we got 2 sweets for a penny.

In a now predominately cashless society, I think 5p is probably pushing it.

a reply to: woogleuk
Yes, that was the price of gobstoppers at our village shop.
It was a nuisance when the farthing (one quarter-penny) was abolished, because my father had to go through all the school "sum-books" and cross them out.

a reply to: OwenTrousers

I don't know about the metal value of UK pennies, but in the US, the metal value is more than US $0.01 (even for the newer mainly zinc pennies), which means I save these in a jar. IF / when the current US Federal Reserve Note type dollar crashes, and reverts to the value of the paper it is printed on (or worse -- the electrons in the digital form of the currency), then these metal pennies will still have some value. My jar(s) of pennies saved will have more value than a stack of Federal Reserve notes at that time!

I never spend pennies, or any other metal coins issued by the US Treasury for this reason. They will hold value....

Also FYI - I always pick up a penny if I see one on the ground. It is a little store of value, and since I am also slightly superstitious, it might be good luck too!