Why the hell are we still making pennies?

I use them.

And I still pick them up when I see them on the sidewalk.

So there.

We put them in the “spare penny” cup that all the stores have next to their registers. And I suppose that several hundred in a sock would make a good cosh. (But, then, so would nickels and dimes.)

(see this
from last month.)

well then what would happen when you have to pay $2.93 or something?
you sure would be in a pickle.
but yes I use pennies. and also pick them up when I find them—but only when they’re heads up! :)

Several hundred in a sock would also make a good weapon.

Over a lifetime, they add up, if we didn’t have them, everything would go up, , probably to a nickel. I just took a cruise on cash-back from a credit card. It was based on 1%, a penny per dollar. Like I said, it all adds up.

They are also useful for perpetuating the illusion that $2.99 is cheaper than $3.00

@Nim: Isn’t that what a “cosh” is?

Haha…it’s actually on Wikipedia under list of melee weapons. Nice.

Gail: Dunno? Never heard that term before.
This is where I admit my limited knowledge of melee weapons.

@Nim: You are simply too young to have been in a rumble. Cosh is a weapon or bludgeon, usually applied to the head.

@poser Did you know that it actually costs more than 1 cent per each to make?

See this link

Shame on me for not searching.

@snoopy—I think I’ve heard that. Yet another reason to do away with them (they aren’t even made of copper).

Gail: Wait…does that imply that you’ve been in your fair share?
Gailcalled in a rumble! You know who I have my money on…

@poser….there is apparently still a smidgen of copper in the penny….

I hear there’s also still a smidgen of the Constitution in our country.

But I digress.

@poser yoohoo! The thread is this way….don’t digress too far…..

A Penny Earned is a Penny Saved!
or is it…
A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned?
Oh, whatever the hell- I say, “Keep the penny”

We need all of the pennies to pay for the 700 billion dollar wallstreet buyout. I would love to pay my taxes in pennies!

My husband, an IT geek, said to me on Sunday at Walgreens as the clerk handed him change, “What the hell do we get change for? Everything should be in dollars.”

I thought it was funny at the time, then saw this Q and it reminded me of it.

He’d prefer all financial exchanges took 30secs or less via a swipe. Imagine what he’s like when someone pays by check in front of us in line. OMG! I have to hide my head from his comments.

It’s a clever form of tax.

Think of all the empty “have a penny leave a penny” cups on store counters across the country if we stop making them.

@Spat FUNNY!

I’ve heard that every time congress considers eliminating the penny, the Illinois congressmen shut down the proposal. Lincoln and such.

Another example of governent interference in private business:

Read an article recently, a man started a company and was buying large volumes of pennies directly from banks, melting them down, casting them into ingots and selling them to copper products manufactures.

The copper value was/is worth 2c per penny.
He did quite well till the gov’t shut him down.

jvgr I suspect that the gov’t interference had to due w/ destruction of federal property…..?