←back to thread

The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

(www.cnn.com)
460 points andrewl | 3 comments | 12 Nov 25 16:10 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
Night_Thastus ◴[12 Nov 25 18:13 UTC] No.45903609[source]▶
I'd say screw it, get rid of nickles and dimes as well. Quarters can stay, for now.

It's a complete waste of money and time continuing to mint such low-value currency. It can't be used for just about anything.

Unfortunately, I do see the problem with part of this. For a handful of items where it does matter, it will force people to use cards more if they want to avoid rounding. And the card providers already have a choke-hold on retailers, and the whole thing is basically a scheme that funnels money from the poor to the wealthy via interest and fees on the consumer, interchange fees, and rewards programs.

replies(24): >>45903659 #>>45903693 #>>45903694 #>>45903838 #>>45903851 #>>45904015 #>>45904115 #>>45904186 #>>45904256 #>>45904307 #>>45904339 #>>45904467 #>>45905217 #>>45905224 #>>45905752 #>>45906029 #>>45906082 #>>45906214 #>>45906243 #>>45906547 #>>45906579 #>>45907421 #>>45907466 #>>45908008 #
datadrivenangel ◴[12 Nov 25 18:16 UTC] No.45903659[source]▶
But add a $3.50 coin so that we can strongly incentivize coffee to stay below a certain price.
replies(5): >>45903687 #>>45903786 #>>45903901 #>>45904593 #>>45904705 #
1. jabbany ◴[12 Nov 25 19:13 UTC] No.45904705[source]▶
I know this is supposed to be a joke but... businesses have pushed for this the other way around in the past, asking for a new coin to raise prices.

> The Coca-Cola Company sought ways to increase the five cent price, even approaching the U.S. Treasury Department in 1953 to ask that they mint a 7.5 cent coin. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_price_of_Coca-Cola_from_...]

replies(1): >>45905981 #
2. thaumasiotes ◴[12 Nov 25 20:23 UTC] No.45905981[source]▶
The wikipedia article says that this was specifically the price of a 6.5oz Coke.

The obvious way to raise the price by 50% is to cut the amount by a third, selling 4.33oz Cokes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BottleDigging/comments/1kng6aq/coca... suggests that Coca-Cola was comfortable producing bottles in several different sizes.

Now, a 4 1/3 oz Coke is obviously too small to be worth bothering with. But that's also true of a 6 1/2 oz Coke. These sizes seem more like something you dispense with an eyedropper than something you drink. A normal can is 12 oz! Who'd want to buy a six-ounce beverage?

You can address both problems at once by doubling the price and increasing the volume all the way up to 8.67 oz.

replies(1): >>45908189 #
3. mrguyorama ◴[12 Nov 25 23:08 UTC] No.45908189[source]▶
When I was a kid, most sodas had a short can size of 8oz available, good for "lunches" and similar.

Funny story, Coca Cola just announced thin 7.5oz cans last month, to be available in January.

Shrinkflation is often done by phasing out an old size, often by jacking up the price first to aid the sales of the "family size" version on its way out, and then introducing a "New" size that's just a bit smaller.