The American Penny

[Shake]

When businesses like gas stations decide they're going to raise prices then, they'd do it in at least a nickel increment. And then, when prices dropped by say, 3¢/gallon, do you think they'd drop it a nickel? No way! The consumers would get shafted by dropping the penny.

I never assume a cashier will give me the 1 or 2¢ for change, even if I see one of those 'Need a penny, take a penny' trays out. But if I'm paying for something and it's, say, $3.98, I expect to get my 2¢ back. I'm not going to tell them to keep it. To me, it's still money and every cent counts. I take all my change to the bank, where they have a machine to sort and count it for me. They'd charge me if it's mine, but for my son's account, there's no charge. So, I usually get an idea of how much I have, add it to his, and then when I get to the bank, I tell them it's all his. Later, I'll make an online transfer back to one of my accounts. My son wins with this too, as I'll round down and he gets the balance.

I'll still stop to pick up a penny, too. I got several dollars once from someone who was moving out of the military dorms and couldn't be bothered to return a bunch of change he had in a jar.

[Legs]

Anti-penny push provokes passions

In this village settled by thrifty Pilgrims, you can still buy penny candy for a penny, but tourist Alan Ferguson doubts he'll be able to dig any 1-cent pieces out of his pockets.

He rarely carries pennies because "they take up a lot of room for how much value they have." Instead, like so many other Americans, he dumps his pennies into a bucket back home in Sarasota, Florida.

Pity the poor penny!

It packs so little value that merry kids chuck pennies into the fountain near the candy store, just to watch them splash and sink. Stray pennies turn up everywhere: in streets, cars, sofas, beaches, even landfills with the rest of the garbage.

A penny bought a loaf of bread in early America, but it's a loafer of a coin in an age of inflation and affluence, slowly sliding into monetary obsolescence.

For the first time, the U.S. Mint has said pennies are costing more than 1 cent to make this year, thanks to higher metal prices.

That very idea of spending 1.2 cents to put 1 cent into play strikes many people as "faintly ridiculous," says Jeff Gore, of Elkton, Maryland, founder of a little group called Citizens for Retiring the Penny.

Read the rest here

[livius drusus]

Just faintly? I'd say it's utterly ridiculous.