Is it time to ditch the penny?

coxeey

Inflation will rise if you ditch it.
If 2p is the smallest coin you may find goods are repriced upwards at the start. Later retailers may price things in even numbers instead of 1p increases and sometimes your change will be wrong, eg 27p item when you dont have a 5p coin, you give 30p and get 2p change. Same if you try to get rid of a 5p coin for a 10p item. You will end up giving 11p (say 5p + 3x2p) no change. Where will all the 1p discrepancies go when the till doesnt balance? the retailers pocket? Inflation increased when we changed to decimal because prior to that people would notice 1d put on the price and that was only 1/240th of a pound. After 1p went on it was 1/100th of a pound.

MarkLS12

coxeey wrote: »

Inflation increased when we changed to decimal because prior to that people would notice 1d put on the price and that was only 1/240th of a pound. After 1p went on it was 1/100th of a pound.

There would be no need for prices to change so it's not like decimalisation and prices can still go up by 1p.

Anyway, we had halfpenny coins in the 1970s, so it was a change from 1/240 to 1/200.

Krissy306

are the government thinking about doing this?

seanomercy

The Cent is worth less than the penny. Remember the saying "look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves." Another traditional saying out of the window.

Glowboy

Jamboreee wrote: »

I would have liked the option to just ditch the 5p coin because it is such a nuisance. Far too small and not taken in any car park machines etc.

Some parking machines do take 5p coins. The operators just don't advertise the fact because they prefer people to use larger denominations.

markflip

The Bank of England should scrap the 1p and 2p and they could sell all the copper for a considerable sum to do some quantitative 'easing' perhaps?

tobybowes

Ditch the 1p and you'll lose the 99p stores,

Ditch the 2p and imagine the costs of the kiddy amusements without 2p falls,

And 5p's well they are annoying but they're accepted in vending machines (that don't usually give change) and instead of looking after the pennies my girlfriend looks after the 5p's, they can add up so quickly in a bottle and you just don't realise!

....tough desision!

I still think there should be a poll on outlawing the the charging of fuel by 9/10th of a penny!!

Jwwallman

There is a good video on the topic if you search CPG Grey pennies in youtube.
It is based on the US but nearly all the points are the same. A very succinct explanation of why small denomination coins need killing I think.

That said if you throw all your coppers into the self service machine at the supermarket you usually get some better coins out.

charlottegray

It doesn't mean everything goes up in price. Do it like they do in Oz and NZ - things are still priced in individual cents such as $3.51 and $2.99, but the TOTAL is rounded up or down at the till to the nearest 5 cents. Perfect.

jazmad

I initially was going to go for scrap all three, because to be honest a few pence of change is more of a nuisance than extra money (and I know how bad that sounds on this site, besides I nearly always use credit cards for the cashback!!)

Then I thought that actually having to make and understand change might be the best way most people learn about basic maths, an essential skill. Therefore, keep the lot to help people with sums.