Some have suggested eliminating pennies from the currency. The price of producing a penny is almost as much as the penny is worth itself.....may be more in the near future. What do you think?

Good idea. Round everything to the nearest nickel.

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My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind
Albert Einstein

The time has come! THe pennies heydey was back when merchants were afraid cashiers would pocket the bills instead of opening the register, hence $1.99 instead of $2.00. Sales tax ruined that strategy! Ring up the sales, charge to the nearest nickel.

I like pennies. throw them in a jar and in no time you have $10 - 20 extra money lying around. (like finding money in your coat pockets...it's "free"!)

One thing I do think is great about pennies is that people willingly drop them in fund raising buckets, whereas it's a little more difficult to part with a silver coin. And though a couple pennies may not be much to each person, they certainly add up for the organizations who are collecting them. Save the penny!

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"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity." -George Bernard Shaw

I won't buy this unless they simultaneously require gas stations to sell at even cents instead of 0.9 cents over.

Perhaps the US of A could follow the lead of other nations - Japan, for example - that makes the smallest coin currency out of a cheaper material.

It wouldn't be the first time the penny was made from something other than copper. And the locals would get used to it after about 2 days.

You are exactly right. I have a penny jar at work and at home. I don't like keeping pennies in my pocket, so I throw them in one of my penny jars. Eventually, I cash them in, and it usually gives me enough money to take the family out to dinner.

If we eliminated Pennies, then what would we do when we spent, for example, $1.29? Personally, I do not believe in rounding off amounts. Example. My refrigerator dod not cost $1900.00, it cost $1899.99.

With debit cards and the future of micro-payments, the days of the penny are numbered. No pun intended

ha ha... just your 2 cents, right? -M

First, I have no idea what a "micro payment" is. Second. Some people still use that green paper to pay with.

Micropayment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From what I read, it will change the way we conduct small financial transactions.

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Just because you don't know what something is doesn't mean others don't use it. I occasionally use cash to pay for things like drive-thru food, or something small like a birthday card, IF I have the cash on me. I don't feel it's very safe for me to carry around much cash at one time, so I usually have less than $20 in cash. I use my debit card or credit card for just about everything.

There will probably always be a place for cash money, but there are other forms of payment now.

Now, about those micropayments...Micropayment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I didn't read it all, but I understand a little better.

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Still corrupting young minds

Bandnerd, That was weird. We both posted at the same time and linked to the same article. Tag, you're it.

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OK. So what is "micropayment?"

Generally, micropayment systems accumulate many micropayments, and collect the accumulated amount of money as one regular payment either before or after the transactions.

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From Entrepreneur Magazine "Hot Trends for 2007"....

Micropayments: There’s a debate going on nationwide: Should we discontinue production of the penny? Not because people hate having a pocket full of copper, but because the cost of production exceeds one cent per penny. Conversely, the technology for micropayment transactions--small currency transfers typically less than $1 but as little as one cent--has made great strides. It is now a reasonable option for merchants and service providers to avoid the the cost of traditional payment processing on transactions smaller than that cost. Micropayments are performed largely online. Consumers have already been primed for micropayments without even realizing it--does 99 cents a song ring a bell? By 2009, TowerGroup expects micropayment revenue to reach $11.5 billion. Until then, put your dukes up for Honest Abe.

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Truth be told, it's the macropayments that are killing my budget.

bwahahahahaha so true!

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Still corrupting young minds

If we eliminate the penny, who will give me change when I offer my "two cents"?

You wouldn't get paid until you offer five opinions at .02 each. You would then qualify to have your dime empty from a slot on your printer or have it billed to your micropayment chip embedded in your wrist. You could then just wave your wrist at the pop machine, for example, and your Diet Coke will cost only .90 next time instead of the regular $1.00.

I'm not sure people want to hear five of my opinions... two cents worth was about all anybody could take! And, on top of that, I'm not so crazy about the embedded chip thing either....

Yeah, we're joking now, but I'm afraid that kind of lunacy is not too far ahead. Over my dead body!

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Well, they already have those chips for kids in case they got abducted...which seems creepy to me but I can see how it would be useful. And the chips for your animals in case they run away from home...

Guess we may all be chipped in the future but I hope not in my future!

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Still corrupting young minds

I get so sick of pennies. I always have a million and seem to always use the silver not the pennies, so I say go for getting rid of them!!!!