this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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[–] henfredemars 78 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

Note that the legal framework for phasing out the coin is entirely absent. This was an illegal act as well because only Congress determines what money exists and will be used according to the Constitution.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 11 points 18 hours ago

It still exists and can still be used. They're just not making more of them.

[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 8 points 21 hours ago (5 children)

More to the point, it isn't sensible.

A penny lasts decades as a tangible item of currency. I have pennies in my change purse right now that were struck in the 1960's.

The value isn't in how much it costs to make it but in how long it lasts as usable token of trade.

[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 41 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

How long it lasts as a usable token of trade

So it's still worthless. Genuinely, what can a penny purchase? A nickel? A dime? None of these coins can buy something individually, and a large chunk of the population doesn't carry them because the utility they gain for having exact change is less than the coins are worth

To be clear, I understand the coins vs. bills argument, but I'm personally in favor of cutting all coins up to the quarter. Or cutting all coins except dimes and half dollars, but dimes are annoying coins

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

I prefer redecimalization. Just redesign money with a zero chopped off. Also get rid of the $1 bill and replace it with a coin. This would make the coins represent the current value of 10c, 50c, $1, $2.5, (maybe $5), and $10, with bills for $20, $50, $100, $200, and $1000. Bills would be representing amounts of money that while commonly exchanged, isn't actively everyday transaction amounts, those would be represented by coinage.

It's similar to the current situation with yen, where usually you're rooting in your pocket to pay for something small, not opening your wallet. Though for the life of me I can't understand why the 1¥ coin remains

[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I appreciate trying to save resources here, but Americans are way too fucking stupid for that to work, amid a myriad of other issues I see with this

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 2 points 16 hours ago

They'd get over it. Just give it a new name and they'll figure it out eventually.

I'm sure there will be some holdouts, but that's not exclusive to Americans.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

That’s not what decimalization means. We’re already on the decimal system, it’s not possible to decimalize again.

You’re thinking of revaluation

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 9 points 18 hours ago

Yeah, but like, is it a valuable token of trade? It's 1c, yes that's money, its a whole percent of a dollar, but it's illegal in most of the country to pay someone less than 12.5 of them per minute of labor, an unlivably low wage. The $15/hr wage is increasingly normal for low skilled labor and is a quarter a minute. A quarter is great as you don't need to fill your pocket with it to buy something from a vending machine. Ok that's not the most honest comparison as vending machines haven't taken pennies in at least a decade. It's a denomination sufficiently small to cause a lot of people to just not bother with them, they just aren't worth the time to use them or keep track of them.

[–] HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com 13 points 20 hours ago

It just don't make no cents.

[–] workerONE@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Pennies are produced and put into circulation, but people are not saving them and exchanging them for dollars, and they don't spend them again. They are constantly being produced and lost. Maybe in the 1960s people felt the need to gather their pennies for reuse but not today.

[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 0 points 14 hours ago

I guess. It all depends on whether or not you can afford to igonore pennies.

If I can not have to break down a dollar bill by fishing 54 cents - two quarters and 4 pennies out of my change purse, I'll do it.

I've found that it's when people break bigger bills down, that smaller notes tend to disappear faster.

This is what the term "nickel and diming" is about.. It's getting you to give up more money in total by taking smaller amounts more often.

It is a thing that's real.

The flip-side of that is what happens with getting paid daily, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly. It's the day labor that ends up constantly skint, because they weren't dealing with large whole number balances. Even getting paid weekly, I was saving less than when I went to every two weeks. Now that I'm self-employed, I choose when to bill, and I do so monthly. Get BIG checks and sink it all straight into savings. Because I am paid every 4 weeks, I have to change how I spend and spend less and save more. LOTS more.

Pennies count at that point. Critically.

I've yet to earn more than 35k in a year - (and that was years ago) - and the biggest thing is havng a balance and seeing that numnber in the savings account rise. I have found that sticking to large lump sums - psychologicaly, you want to hold onto it more and it does change how you aproach savings and money in general.

I can take a couple hundred dollar bills and slip them into a book on the shelf and they'll sit there for months before I dig them out. I can try the same thing with 5 20 dollar bills and they're usually gone within a week.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 6 points 21 hours ago

Yes and it needs to be done legally. Granted though it needs to be at least 5x as long as other currency. Its not that I don't think the penny should be taken out as much as it should be done appropriately.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

You can also still pay in pennies with a credit card. Everything is so stupid.