There is a debate in the U.S. about getting rid of the one cent coin. It now costs 1.7¢ to make 1¢. Since a penny can get used over and over with a lifetime that can last decades, it may seem that such a high production cost would be worth it in the long run. However, the metal value of the coin also exceeds its face value. So the penny is at risk of being melted down despite laws that exist to prevent such a thing.I actually support scrapping the penny. This biggest thing that would make me want to continue with the penny is that lobbing off anything other than a 5 or a 0 would be weird to me. And after all this time of learning to calculate a 6% sales tax, I’d have to get used to a few more steps? When I read the arguments in favor and against, I was won over by the arguments to get rid of it.
Another thing that I’d get rid of is the dollar bill which is another costly expense. The lifetime of a dollar bill is counted in months. Although a dollar coin would cost more to make than a bill, it would stay in circulation for a lot longer. Think about.
Let’s say a dollar bill costs 8¢ to make but only lasts 12 months.
Let’s say that a dollar coin costs 52¢ to make but lasts for 12 years.
The simple savings would be 44¢.
I know, there’s a lot more to it than that but there you go.
4 comments:
Totally with you on both of those - particularly the penny. The dollar bill debate is a bit less clean-cut for me, there's a trap there in that I sort of divide money into 'folding money' (which is real money) and 'jingly money' (which isn't worth hauling around - particularly with our gigantic 20c and 50c coins). We've got $1 and $2 coins - so you can end up with a pocket full of change that's worth over $10 without really trying, which is a nasty trap. Not so bad as in Europe with the 2-euro coin, though!
By the way - where'd you find the Aussie 1c coin from?
There would be a lot of Americans who have the same problem with you and bills. We do have dollar coins but they will never catch on as long as we make the bills. The dollar bill is just something that we are used to dealing with plus, like you said, it's easier with the lightness and you can fold it into a wallet.
I mentioned the Australian coin in a March 27 vid post. You should check it out...er... at least the first two minutes or so. You get a mention!
We had talked about scrapping the penny in Canada but changed our minds. We did switch to a dollar coin, then a two dollar coin and some talks now about a five dollar coin. Next will probably be a twenty dollar coin so thank goodness for debit-cards! O_O
With that much weight in our pockets, everyone will have the sagging pants style.
^Yeah, Canadian pennies tend to wind up in the trash around these parts unless we can find some sucker to take them. :-P
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