| Kill the Penny for Mother Earth |
| Written by Hank Green | ||
| Thursday, 24 April 2008 | ||
|
First, that's just not sound economic policy. Second, it's a waste of zinc, the mining of which is an environmental disaster. The demand for zinc, mostly due to growth in China, has skyrocketed, and wasting the metal on a coin that is, in general, a nuisance, is foolish economic and environmental policy. Unfortunately, there's no quick fix. Switching to the nickel as our cheapest unit is confusing, especially in places with uneven sales tax. Transactions would, according on a bill proposed by Representative Jim Kolbe (R - AR), be rounded to the nearest five cents. But people aren't a big fan of paying more for a certain amount of stuff...even if it's just cents. Of course, no one minds when the gas pumps automatically round up to the nearest penny...but who cares about a fraction of a penny, right? For that matter...who cares about a penny? The change would only affect monetary transactions. Credit card and interest payments would still be made to the penny. Australia underwent a similar change in 2002, eliminating both its one- and two-cent pieces, without much of a stir. With the rising cost of zinc, and the slumping power of the dollar...the pennies' days are numbered. Already, they're difficult to keep in circulation because people don't like to carry them around, and they simply pile up in jars and car seats waiting for their CoinStar fate. Maybe Lincoln can find a new place, on a dollar...or two dollar coin. I'd hate to lose him all together.
Comments
(28)
...
written by Pavel , April 25, 2008
Here in the Czech Republic we have "hellers" instead of pennies. These are 1/100 of Czech koruna (CZK). We had 10, 20 and 50 heller coins. 20 hellers is slightly more than a penny. Here, too, it was not economical to use these coins so five years ago they were abandoned. Since then all payments are rounded to the nearest 50 hellers. Nobody complains about that any more (except for card players who used them for betting
 ) and it surely didn't cause some significant price raisings. Overall it seems like a good move.
...
written by Kat , April 25, 2008
I have to interject and say New Zealand got rid of its 1 and 2 cent pieces in the mid 90's and we got rid of 5 cent pieces 2 years ago.
It's really not a big deal and if you honestly care about those few cents you can pay for it electronically. Sometimes the system even works in your favour making things cheaper.
Check your facts...
written by Alex , April 25, 2008
Not sure where you got the numbers regarding how much a zinc penny is worth. With todays zinc prices they are worth about a little more than half a cent. Reference: coinflation.com
Amen
written by Zane , April 25, 2008
I've been behind the phase out of the penny ever since they brought it up on the West Wing almost a decade ago. Not only has Australia eliminated their 1 and 2 cent pieces, but so has New Zealand, and Sweden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_rounding). I would say it's about time for the US to follow.
Coins
written by DW , April 25, 2008
Coin collectors start collected those pennies!
...
written by Roy , April 25, 2008
Yeah, but we Americans are proud of our inefficiency and stubbornness! First you try to take our preciously unintuitive inches and pounds, and we fought you off! Now you're after our useless pennies? Terrorism!
(my house is a little bastion of metric measures... maybe if I do it... others might?)
...
written by CJ , April 25, 2008
I find it funny that there is no mention as to why the penny is worth so little. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but the US Dollar has lost 96% in 94 years, since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. Maybe thats why the penny is so worthless that its no longer needed. In effect its not the actual value of the metal that has increased, but the abundance of currency in the marketplace has squandered its value. So, is that eco-friendly, or just economic stupidity?
Australian POV
written by Rob , April 25, 2008
We had the same argument in Australia. People were worried they would lose out. Rounding works both ways. You may lose 1-2c every 2nd transaction, but you gain 1-2c in the other transaction. And don't forget the most important part: IT'S ONLY 2 CENTS!!! (worst case scenario)
As an Australian resident temporarily living in Canada and making frequent business trips to the US, I find the pennies so damn annoying. They accumulate everywhere and are pretty much worthless. It is much better on you're change pocket back in Australia.
...
written by Dan , April 25, 2008
I say get rid of all coins below the quarter. Hand the teller your cash and debit card. What ever change that isn't paper, gets credited to your debit account. Keep the quarter around for friendly games of poker and those very small purchases.
Lets do it
written by Jeff Taylor , April 25, 2008
The dollar has lost 96%? I assume you are talking about the dollars Purchasing Power Parity, until recently the dollar had decades of strong performance. Get rid of the Pennies, they are a nuisance. Why cant we round up or DOWN to the nearest five, so sometimes we Save and sometimes we take a minor hit, that we about even out in the end. So if I owe 1.41 1.42 its 1.40 and if i owe 1.43 or 1.44 its 1.45. That would only be a 1 or 2 cent difference in most cases!
Don't worry Abraham Lincoln will live on on those fancy new five dollar bills that have every color in the rainbow.
...
written by Bob Wallace , April 25, 2008
At one time in the US we had coins worth fractions of pennies - "mils". One thousandth of a dollar.
(I've got a couple in my coin collection - small red plastic pieces.) Back when we used mils a wage of a dollar an hour was good pay. (My grandfather had jobs that paid $0.50 a day.) But inflation happens. I think the only reason we hang on to the penny is because our most loved president's picture is on it. Introducing a one dollar coin with Abe front and center might go a long way to getting the public to let go of the penny.
...
written by Bob Wallace , April 25, 2008
At one time in the US we had coins worth fractions of pennies - "mils". One thousandth of a dollar.
(I've got a couple in my coin collection - small red plastic pieces.) Back when we used mils a wage of a dollar an hour was good pay. (My grandfather had jobs that paid $0.50 a day.) But inflation happens. I think the only reason we hang on to the penny is because our most loved president's picture is on it. Introducing a one dollar coin with Abe front and center might go a long way to getting the public to let go of the penny.
...
written by snooj , April 25, 2008
The "Check your facts" post got me curious.
Per the US Mint (usmint.gov) Cost to mint a US penny FY2005 $0.0097 per penny FY2006 $0.0123 per penny FY2007 $0.0140 per penny (mid point of estimate) FY2008 $? - the numbers given for FY2007 (ended March) are based on the costs associated with metal purchases on April 28th, 2006 - $1.49/lb for zinc, $3.23/lb for copper, and $8.69/lb for nickel. Current costs for the base metals are $0.9964/lb for zinc, $3.91/lb for copper and $13.01 for nickel. The reduction in the cost of zinc over the past 2 years has to have brought the cost to the US mint to produce a penny back closer to parity.
...
written by Book Calendar , April 25, 2008
I have some reservations. Our economy is fairly large, it could be disruptive to a lot of the smaller companies, that make things like candy, toothpicks, sell postage, and similar things. Even a small fraction of a multi-trillion dollar economy will have a big impact. If we have a $3 trillion dollar economy, the penny still represents billions of dollars.
The problem is that the substitute materials which they tried are becoming more expensive, zinc originally replaced copper, now zinc is becoming expsive. I don't know if they could make a penny out of a non-metallic substance like a resin.
...
written by Bob Wallace , April 25, 2008
At one time in the US we had coins worth fractions of pennies - "mils". One thousandth of a dollar.
(I've got a couple in my coin collection - small red plastic pieces.) Back when we used mils a wage of a dollar an hour was good pay. (My grandfather had jobs that paid $0.50 a day.) But inflation happens. I think the only reason we hang on to the penny is because our most loved president's picture is on it. Introducing a one dollar coin with Abe front and center might go a long way to getting the public to let go of the penny.
What about the dollar coin?
written by OJ Shakewell , April 25, 2008
doesn't the US treasury spend more printing dollar bills every few months than they would on minting the dollar coin with a lifespan of several decades?
...
written by Fawkes , April 25, 2008
I just did a persuasive speechon on this for my speech class.
The production of pennies account for more than half of all Mint coin production and 7 million of them get thrown into the trash every year. There is an estimated $10 million worth of them just sitting in peoples homes. They waste resourses. Not only is the metal expensive but there is also packaging, handling, and distribution to deal with. There was a time(around WWII) that coins were made mostly from steele. I dont know what the prices are for that but I have a feeling it would be cheaper.
...
written by koloman , April 25, 2008
In Finland we use the Euro like a lot of other European countries, except we do not use the two smallest coins worth 1 and 2 cents. Each purchase is rounded down or up to the nearest 5 cents.
Cash money is not used that much here anymore (people mostly use debit and credit cards), but I dare say that losing the two smallest coins has been a blessing (well, actually they were never in use in the first place). No-one likes to carry around a bunch of quasi-worthless metal anyway. Coincidentally, since the Euro came into use in 2002, there are actually more coins in everyday circulation here since one Euro equals around 6 of our old Marks. This problem would only be worse if there two more kinds of coins in use.
...
written by koloman , April 25, 2008
Just to add to my comment above:
1 and 2 cent euro coins from other countries are, of course, valid tender in Finland. They are just not minted here except for collectors and I guess the ones that flow to Finland from abroad are just shipped back to their respective origin countries I don't know if any other countries in the Euro zone have this same arrangement in place. I, for one, would recommend it.
...
written by Ben , April 25, 2008
umm we (Australia) got rid of the 1 and 2 cent coin in 1992 not 2002
...
written by koloman , April 25, 2008
Great. My point was that such coins were never in use here in the first place, and were not brought into circulation even though our currency was changed in 2002 to one that purported to use such coins.
But you're right - this is a competition.
...
written by Monotonehell , April 25, 2008
@Book Calendar: Do you often buy a single toothpick? Can you actually buy a single toothpick? Everything comes in packets these days. Often the cost of marketing is more than the actual cost of the contents.
Rounding up and down doesn't affect the purchase of these items. If you buy one item with cash priced at 3cents it gets rounded to 5cents. If you buy two it costs you 6cents and gets rounded to 5cents. Think it through, your reservations are probably baseless. Look at all the other countries that have done this with no problem.
Canada
written by Anonymous , April 25, 2008
Canada currently has a bill being put forward to eliminate their penny as well.
...
written by Gulag2008 , April 25, 2008
I just wanted to thank Hank Green for writing
a more balanced article. After your questionable Coinstar article I was starting to think you were getting paid off by the Rockefellers, or the WWF organization.I appreciate you emphasizing the dollars declining value as a reason to kill the penny. The only problem I envision is the old retail scam of keeping the illusion that an item is $1.99 instead of just rounding up to increase sales, I don't know who that fools, but the retailers still do it. I would also like if the retailers would just add the sales tax to the sticker prices.
...
written by Monotonehell , April 27, 2008
@Gulag2008: When the Australian Government introduced the retail level Goods and Services Tax (GST) they also legislated that all prices must include tax at point of sale.
recycle the penny
written by Mike Jones , April 28, 2008
Maybe someone can explain this to me. Why doesn't the mint do an ad campaign and ask people to turn in their spare change? With all the pennies in peoples houses, wouldn't that deal with any shortage problem and then allow the mint to reduce the minting? And for the coin collectors the mint could produce a few hundred thousand or a million and be done with it.
Yes, Get rid of the penny
written by John Brendel , April 30, 2008
1. It's not worth the environmental cost of the mining.
2. On the rare occasion when someone actually uses pennies, it needlessly slows down the line for other customers. Just one minor political comment: someone above said that one reason we're reluctant to give up pennies is that our "most beloved" President is on them. Well, Lincoln sure as hell is NOT my most beloved President. Along with FDR, LBJ, and George W. Bush, he vastly increased the size, power, and cost of the federal government -- at the expense of our property rights and other liberties.
Eliminate the nickel and dime too
written by John Brendel , April 30, 2008
Like most Americans, I pay for almost all my transactions (including groceries, gasoline, restaurants, event tickets, and household bills) with a credit card.
On the rare occasion when I use cash -- say, to buy a lottery ticket or tip the guy at the car wash -- I use single dollar bills, not coins. How often do we really use pennies, nickels and dimes? | ||
| Next > |
|---|
Science, technology gadgets and...baby seals. We're in a bit of an eco-mess, but we've got the brains to lick any problem. And that's why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.
And if that sounds interesting to you, then congratulations, you're an EcoGeek.
There are a lot of reasons to end the reign of the penny. On the top of the list, of course, is that they are, in fact, worth more melted down than at the grocery store. If you got a hundred pennies and melted them down, you'd actually have $1.40 of metal...mostly zinc.
Subscribe to this comment's feed