Adjusted for inflation: $2.50 for your thoughts?
I’m ready for pennies to be extinct.
I really don’t understand why they are still a part of our society. With inflation having affected the cost of goods, nothing has been sold for under .05 cents in decades and I honestly don’t believe there is enough of a psychological difference between $29.99 and $29.95 to warrant a seperate piece of currency.
I can’t stand pennies, and judging from the amount of ‘em left on the counters of numerous convience stores, a whole lot of people agree with me.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most frugal person. This isn’t to say that I blow my money frivolously, but rather I tend to think that the time and energy involved in saving a few cents usually isn’t worth the actual $ amount saved.
For instance, the time it takes to search for coupons in the paper, cut them out, carry them around and remember to actually use them in the appropriate store simply doesn’t justify the paltry amount of pennies saved in this process.
I’m not trying to say that everyone should be like me, but I imagine that even the most frugal-minded shopper wouldn’t mind prices being rounded up (or down) to the nearest nickel.
It would be a victimless change as far as I can tell, unless there is some giant zinc industry that relies on pennies to employ thousands of workers. . .which, now that I think about it, is likely the real reason pennies still exist today.
And while we’re on the subject of .01 cent increments, I’d also like to send out a general call to the United States Postal Service: ENOUGH WITH THE .01 or .02 CENT STAMP INCREASES LIKE EVERY DAMN YEAR!
Just raise the price of a stamp up to .50 cents and be done with it for like ten years. Hell, if I can get another window open at the post office I’ll gladly pay .60 cents a letter.
Unfortunately probably the only way the government could be convinced to abandon the penny would be if some terrorist group figured out a way to attack America using pennies. A giant penny bomb dropped over the white house, or exploding shoes filled with pennies on a plane. . .
. . .I just want to go on record to the FBI agents now perusing this blog and say that any penny-related terrorist attacks that occur are entirely coincidental with the content of this blog entry.
