John Oliver’s explanation of that group is far more entertaining than the Wikipedia entry.
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“This scratched penny is really a message from Robin! It says he’s on the scent of Ted Tate down at the old mica quarry!”
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Reminder: we retired the half-penny when it was worth almost as much as a quarter is worth today and everyone got by without it just fine.
So if we were to restructure our currency to bring it in line with generations past then the $1, $5 and $10 bills should become coins and any coins under a quarter should go away entirely.
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Yep, one of the things I had to get used to after moving to the US from Canada was 1) the prevalence of $1 bills, 2) the lack of a $2 denomination, and 3) pennies.
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Just abolish any units of currency below the dollar, rename dollar to penny and rename $100 to $1.
Only mostly joking.
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We hate our dollar coins, either cause we confuse them with quarters or, because of attempts to make them completely different from quarters, they are practically the size of dinner plates.
We absolutely have a $2 denomination. You just won’t see it unless you like to bet on horses. Not sure why that is.
You had those until very recently in Canada. I used to get them in my change. I still do, even though Canada no longer mints them.
Putting the penny back on death row – just in time for the resumption of U.S. federal executions.
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So all that work preparing ass pennies, just to get ahead in life, will be a big wasted effort?
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I am guessing sending a care package of loonies and toonies would be considered suspicious and not very useful.
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Bit of trivia… the San Diego Trolley system kiosks take any bills and most coins, but give change exclusively in Sacajawea dollars. I don’t know if it’s still true, but for a long time they were the largest processor of dollar coins in California.
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I can’t believe the ass pennies sketch was 22 years ago now
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You don’t honestly believe that these two fine senators from Tenn are going to let us stop making pennies. “damn, libruls tryin’ take ur jerbs…”
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN
Since we are talking about $1 bills… I’ll share a story:
I was about 16, maybe 17, working as a cashier at Walmart. Lady comes through my line with a friend, and buys a bunch of stuff, hands me nearly 40 dollars in damp $1 bills. Damp bills weren’t THAT uncommon. Especially in summer where people get wet at the pool or what ever.
And then she says to her friend, “There goes my dance money.”
I’m thinking, “Dear god, please tell me you teach Jazzercise at the Y or something…”
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Most economists agree that 2 percent inflation is ideal. Like a wealth tax, it keeps people from sitting on money. And 2% is pretty much exactly what we have had for the last decade.
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I have to imagine that coinstar machines are the biggest factor keeping pennies alive. If it weren’t for them I would probably just leave pennies on the counter or drop them in the trash. If they were to stop giving real money for pennies that might finally tip the balance into rationality.
Grocery stores are pushing “round up to dollar for the local food bank” now that change is scarce. I would definitely patronize stores that had a universal “round down to the nickel for local food bank” policy paid by the store.
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Did you notice that the short clip early in that video shows wheat pennies? Those are really old pennies from a time when they were significantly copper in content. Where do you think they dug up that footage?
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Indeed!
I’ve never much liked US notes all being the same size and colour - too easy to confuse them, especially as a visitor. Glad pounds and euros (the notes I use most - or used to before everyone decided they would not touch it in case it was infected) are different sizes/colours per denomination.
Works for us. 
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They used to all be the same color but in recent years they’ve subtly changed the hues to match the colors of a popular capitalist board game:
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