Should We Ditch The Penny?
There is an article on the BBC web site discussing small coins and whether we need them.
It makes a very valid point, and although I’m a large cash user, I can’t think of the last time, I purposely used a coin smaller than a five pence. I don’t even chuck them in as tips.
I just looked and I found that I’ve only one two pence, amongst a load of ones bigger than ten pence, in my coin pocket and I can’t think how it got there! So it probably shows how rare it is for you to get them in change these days.
If I go back a few years, some purchases like newspapers, were definitely ones that needed pennies, but now I buy my daily paper on subscription to get vouchers and the Standard is a free sheet. Buses too, would have needed a few coins, but now I use a card to get them free. Even if you’re under sixty, I suspect buses don’t need pennies.
So just what do we need pennies for?
I suppose there is the pub game of shove two pence or whatever it is these days.
I certainly wouldn’t miss them, if they ceased to be legal tender.
The Anonymous Widower 
My morning coffee is £2.64, so pennies and tuppences needed for that.
Comment by Liz P | February 26, 2013 |
Anything like that and I’d throw in the odd six pence as a tip.
Comment by AnonW | February 26, 2013 |
There is realy no need for the copper coins anymore and a strong case for making the 50p, £1, and £2 coins lighter in weightand chaeper to produce. A coffee at £2.64 only needs to increase by 0.38% to reach £2.65. The value of the copper coins is so low that they must cost more to make than their face value, even though they are now made of steel. More rodiculaous is the US dollar bill. The Americans seem to be politically attacahed to a banknote.
Comment by John Wright | February 26, 2013 |
You say about the dollar bill. How many countries still have notes for values around a pound or less?
The coin, I hate is the £2, as psychologically they seem wrong. I think they might just be too big and say three in a purse or wallet takes up too much space.
Comment by AnonW | February 26, 2013 |