On Mon, 10 Mar 2003 18:24:48 -0700,
(paghat) wrote:

Many US banks charge a fee to machine-count & machine-roll pennies, & will
not accept pennies that are not rolled. So if you show up with a sack or a
jar of pennies, they will not count them for you unless you pay them, &
will refuse to take them if you refuse to pay for them to handle them. It
would be interesting to test the federal law on this with a class action
suit against the banking industry, but somehow I suspect their influence
in government vastly exceeds our individual rights, so as legal tender
pennies will continue to be discounted via fees at bankers' whims.

I've heard it costs more than a penny for the government to make a penny &
the mint would like to phase them out, but it's politically unacceptable
cuz people like the idea that pennies exist even if they don't like
pennies.

-paghat the ratgirl
Its a shame that we can't get rid of pennies. They are such a waste
of time and effort.
I just don't understand why it is politically unacceptable, except of
course that will allow businesses to round up to the nearest nickel.
That means higher costs for customers, and added profits for the
business, which is always unPC. But we're only talking pennies per
transaction!
But it still makes no sense when people will not even pick up pennies
off the floor, and they're giving them away at store counters to make
even change.
Get rid of them I say. We'll be better off for it.

Swyck