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Death to Pennies

CGP Grey2 HN recommenders · 2012–2023
10.7M views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2011-11-30

CGP Grey's short animated argument for abolishing the US penny, covering its cost and history.

Pointed to as the canonical concise case against pennies whenever coin abolition comes up.

Microeconomics & behavioral economicsMacroeconomics & financial crises

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4 comments from Hacker News

@rogerbinns2012 · in “Canada ditches the penny”

CGP Grey has an excellent youtube video on the whole issue for the US. The US currently makes 4 billion 1 cent coins annually. And they have already been abolished at US military overseas bases. [VIDEO] (Come to think of it, doesn't the US military use a lot more metric system than the general population. If so, this would be a good reason to increase the military since it would appear to be the only way progress happens!)

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@slavik812018 · in “The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year”

They've done some of that in the past. The United States had a half-cent coin until 1857. When it was coin was eliminated, it was more valuable than the penny is today[1]. There is also a US $1 coin. They were widely used in Equador when I visited in 2005, because their currency was pegged to the US dollar. I spent a day in Miami on my way back home and I left a few as tips. People were very confused by them. It seemed kind of funny to me that a US coin was more commonly used outside the US than inside. [1] See CPGrey's "Death to Pennies". [VIDEO]

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@tacocataco2020 · in “Is It Time to Kill the Penny?”

All I want is for all paper cash to be plastic so I can wash the covid off of it. I support getting rid of the penny, but I feel that plastic cash would make more of a difference. CGP Grey has a wonderful video on the penny, he is my favorite YouTuber. [VIDEO]

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@TehShrike2023 · in “Paper Money Diehards Refuse to Fold”

This already happens with cents. Your tax frequently comes out to a fraction of a cent, and it gets rounded to the nearest cent. The US used to have a half-penny coin. It stopped being minted in 1857. The purchasing power of the half-penny at the time was about as much as a quarter has today. It wouldn't be crazy to get rid of all coins worth less than 25¢ and round all purchases to the nearest quarter. Obligatory CGP Grey: [VIDEO]

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