Death to Pennies
Why Hacker News recommends it
Pointed to as the canonical concise case against pennies whenever coin abolition comes up.
What it is
CGP Grey's short animated argument for abolishing the US penny, covering its cost and history.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2012 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec tacocataco · 2020-07 · on “Is It Time to Kill the Penny?”
All I want is for all paper cash to be plastic so I can wash the covid off of it. I support getting rid of the penny, but I feel that plastic cash would make more of a difference. CGP Grey has a wonderful video on the penny, he is my favorite YouTuber. [this video]
Recommends rogerbinns · 2012-03 · on “Canada ditches the penny”
CGP Grey has an excellent youtube video on the whole issue for the US. The US currently makes 4 billion 1 cent coins annually. And they have already been abolished at US military overseas bases. [this video] (Come to think of it, doesn't the US military use a lot more metric system than the general population. If so, this would be a good reason to increase the military since it would appear to be the only way progress happens!)
Cites slavik81 · 2018-06 · on “The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year”
They've done some of that in the past. The United States had a half-cent coin until 1857. When it was coin was eliminated, it was more valuable than the penny is today[1]. There is also a US $1 coin. They were widely used in Equador when I visited in 2005, because their currency was pegged to the US dollar. I spent a day in Miami on my way back home and I left a few as tips. People were very confused by them. It seemed kind of funny to me that a US coin was more commonly used outside the US than inside. [1] See CPGrey's "Death to Pennies". [this video]
Cites TehShrike · 2023-05 · on “Paper Money Diehards Refuse to Fold”
This already happens with cents. Your tax frequently comes out to a fraction of a cent, and it gets rounded to the nearest cent. The US used to have a half-penny coin. It stopped being minted in 1857. The purchasing power of the half-penny at the time was about as much as a quarter has today. It wouldn't be crazy to get rid of all coins worth less than 25¢ and round all purchases to the nearest quarter. Obligatory CGP Grey: [this video]