John Oliver hates the penny too

Comedian John Oliver has his anti-penny rant on Last Week Tonight here.

Saving Pennies for 45 Years

So there have been quite a few online articles like this one about this guy who saved his pennies for 45 years and just cashed them in a few weeks ago.  He had over a half a million pennies and got just over $5100 for them.  Doesn't anyone else think this is a pathetic amount to have saved over a 45 year period? All the articles are telling us how awesome this is.  I'll admit it is interesting, but spending the last 45 years doing something only to get $5000 just does not seem worth it to me.  Warehousing something (if my calculations are correct) that weighs around 3000 lbs and takes up about 10 cubic feet of space is not cheap.  The smarter option would've been to deposit the pennies into an interest-earning savings account. Earning 1% per year he would have over $6400 now and even if he only got .5%, he'd still have over $5700, instead of the $5100 he received.  I think the most interesting fact is that to save over a half a million pennies in 45 years, you've got to collect about 950 pennies each month, more than 30 pennies each day on average.  Holy cow, that's a lot of pennies! And even though it may have been more economical for him to just deposit a ten dollar bill into a savings account each month, I can't deny him the joy he has had throughout his penny-saving experience. Maybe he's a better man now, than he would otherwise be without the experience. Don't forget, "Life is a journey, not a destination." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

No more pennies in Ireland

This Slate article let's us know that Ireland is beginning to phase out it's 1 and 2 cent Euro coins. I like it when the articles are a little humorous like this one.

All the Pennies

Here is a feel good song by Mindy Gledhill.

More Money!

Enjoy Pink Floyd's Money.

End the Penny

Here is another anti-penny rant from Cavalier Daily.

Penny Love

Apparently most of us still like pennies.  Here is an article from the Washington Times reporting on a recent poll.

Making Sense of Pennies

Here is a CBS news article about the penny controversy.  It gives a little from each side of the issue, and has some good basic information.

What do you think would happen?

What would happen if the top 10 retailers in the US started rounding all of their cash transactions to the nearest nickel instead of the nearest penny?  Do you think the rest of the retailers would follow?  Do you think it would hurt their business or profitability? Would it save them money or cost them money?  How many of the top retailers would need to switch over in order to get the majority of retailers to switch over within 5 years? Just one, half of the top 10, all of the top 10, or all the top 20? As everyone knows, Wal-Mart is the top retailer in the US based on sales. Could they do it by themselves? If the gap between first and second grew larger, or their sales growth outpaced everyone else, I think it would happen much quicker.  I think several would jump on right away, and others would wait to see how it affected the juggernaut that is Wal-Mart before deciding.  If Wal-Mart did it, then I think there would be a significant shift in penny requests from the Federal Reserve that same year.  If Wal-Mart wanted to kill the penny, I think they could do it single-handedly. If 2 or 3 of the other top 10 did it together, then they could probably get the results as quickly as Wal-Mart could all by itself.  Once all of the top 10 retailers are on board, the penny would be dead within a year.

Of course, this is coming at the problem from the opposite angle and as you can see, it's the long way around the problem.  If the government decided to switch off the penny minting machine tomorrow, then every business would have little choice but to switch over and the penny would be gone overnight.  If it is initiated by retailers instead, then I could see the process taking many, many years.  The key is in the top 10 or 20 retailers.  If one of them got on board, and all went well, then it would only be a matter of time before the penny was gone.  I've decided that when I pay cash, I'm going to tell them to give me all of my change EXCEPT the pennies.  I don't want them.

Wiping Pennies Off the Face of the Planet

Seeking to wipe pennies off the face of the planet is a little ambitious for this article which is only a few small paragraphs, but RL Diehl has the right idea.  If retailers would stop using them in their cash drawers, then the mint would stop producing them. But it's probably not going to happen that way. There are a few retailers out there doing it, but not enough of them.  You see rounding at stadiums and sports arenas, fairs and amusement parks, and even movie theaters, but for many people, they don't frequent these types of establishments on a regular basis, so it doesn't sink in.  We need to get grocery stores, department stores, and restaurants to start doing it, and then we'd see the shift come.

The best anti-penny article I've seen in a while

Ike Brannon, I salute you! His article hits the nail on the head. If it's true that not even homeless people want pennies, nickels, or dimes, then it's definitely high time to get rid of them.

This is one of the weirdest things I've seen!

This couple has covered their classic car in pennies.  Read the article and watch youtube video.

More Proof That Coins Are Annoying

If you didn't know that coins were annoying, then check out this article and this one too. Coins in general are just annoying, especially in bulk.  Let's lighten our pockets and purses with useless pennies, nickels and dimes, and instead put larger denominations in there instead.

Pennies and Nickels Produced at a Loss for Eight Straight Years

Here is a cool article showing how much the government loses to make pennies and nickels here. Enjoy.

Another Penny Hater

We have another article by a penny hater!

Waste of Time

The Paris Review comes forth with an article about the worthlessness of pennies.

All About The Benjamins

Instead of talking about the smallest denomination of coin, let's listen to this song about the largest denomination of bill.

Penny Lane

Listen to the classic Beatles song here.

Cuz A Penny's A Lot, When Nothing's For Free

Listen to this rocking "Money" tune by McQueen Street.