Readers respond: Good riddance to the penny?

A hardware store in Coconut Grove, Fla., decided to join the movement to do away with pennies in cash transactions. Several readers weighed in on whether the concept of the penny makes any sense.

“I am now approaching 60 years old. When I was much younger, in my 20s, a penny was worth the equivalent of 5 or more cents today. Right now the copper in a penny is worth more than the value of the denomination. It is time to make the decision to eliminate this coin, because it does not serve a real function anymore, and actually costs more than it is worth.”

— George McCullough 

“Canada has ceased production of the penny. Great idea as it has essentially no value, is a pain to deal with and nobody wants them! The nickel will also be phased out in the near future. Transactions will be simply rounded up or down to the nearest nickel (and the nearest dime in the future). No one loses as it all averages out in the end. Credit card or debit transactions will still be to the penny.

"The one and two dollar coins have been well accepted. The only glitch is the mint changed the weight of the one-dollar coin without telling coin machine operators and now they don’t work. The operators will adapt but the communication could have been better.”

— Chuck Crocker

Winnipeg Sales Associates

Huron Window Corp.

“[Banning the penny is] not a good idea. The larger the increment, the larger the cost.  At retail, sales tax payments, income tax payments all would round up so the end consumer pays the price.

“It's like the 3.99.9 cost on gasoline. Leave the 10th of a cent there; or in the transaction sense, leave the pennies there.”

— Charles "Chaz" Mott  

“Although the surveys show it would hurt the lowest-income people, it is time to get rid of the penny. When it costs more to produce the penny than what it is worth then make it go away. Rounding the transaction to the nearest nickel is the right thing to do.”

— David Wood 

“Like the horse drawn-carriages, Dodo birds and lots of bygone ‘other things,’ the penny has outlived its usefulness and reason for being. It’s about time to eliminate it!”

— Paul Siegel

GoPro Construction