Why do we still have pennies?

1 Answer
aielliot
Nov 2, 2017

They used to be worth something. Parking meters used to accept pennies.

Explanation:

Inflation reduces the value of money over time. Mexico and Canada and a number of other countries have stopped using the penny coins as they are an inconvenience, expensive to mint (the coin being worth more than its face value) and pretty much worthless. People just round at the till. Electronically they still pay "to the penny".

Americans are generally very conservative about their money. No coin has replaced the paper dollar, although a number of attempts have been made. The newer $20 bills caused a stir. Americans have also resisted the metric system, but don't get me started.

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