Reply To: Penniless

The pennies may be around for decades but you won’t be able to use them that’s the whole point here.

Half cent equations aren’t as common as cents. It’s simple 100 cents make a dollar. It’s much easier to understand and also apply when there is an actual one cent coin.

And last time paid in cash? Many times when I don’t feel like waiting for the chip machine to work, or when I just want to pay for something and be done with it without later seeing a huge credit card bill, or if I owe someone money and I just take out some cash from the wallet. Cash is very convenient and both cash and credit have their advantages and disadvantages.

The reason most people pay with a card is due to a psychological reason that they don’t see the actual money leaving their hand so it feels like a lighter transaction and almost as if they paid nothing at all. That’s also a huge reason why people get into so much debt because they don’t track their purchases and just swipe away after all they have a whole month to pay for it. It’s much easier to hold on to physical cash in your wallet than to a card that contains digital denomination that is likely over your budget anyway and takes effort to check the balance.
Anothe reason is most people get paid directly into their bank account so taking out cash is inconvenient. People who get paid in cash use cash since they have it on hand more often.

I think its a mistake to take the penny away since now everything will just cost more since it will obviously be rounded up to the nearest nickel and not otherwise.
Yes pennies are annoying since some will insist on breaking your whole dollar just for that extra penny that you don’t have. But how will this solve the issue now If something will be 2.05 and you don’t have a nickel you will still have to break a whole dollar for it. With the penny it’s such a small denomination that most will just let it go at this point and let you keep your dollar whole.