A penny for your thoughts.

Quote:

Support for Penny Grows Stronger as Congress Considers Elimination; Nostalgia, New Alloy Options and Concerns About Rounding Fuel 13 Percentage Point Increase in Americans Favoring the Penny


BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2006--While debate over the future of the penny has been heating up with new legislation aimed at eliminating the coin, data shows increasing support for keeping the one-cent coin in circulation. Coinstar, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSTR) announced today new poll results that reveal 79 percent of Americans favor keeping the penny, up from 66 percent just a year ago.

"When people become educated about the issues around the penny, such as new solutions to lower production costs and rounding at the cash register, they appear to be more inclined to keep the penny as evidenced by the 13 point increase over last year," said Alex Camara, senior vice president and general manager of Coinstar's worldwide coin business.

Penny support now extends beyond romantic notions about penny candy and penny loafers.

-- 31 percent support keeping the penny if alloys are changed to
reduce rising production costs and 48 percent say leave the
penny as is (79 percent support). Only 15 percent favor
discontinuing use of the Lincoln cent.

-- 51 percent are concerned about price rounding to the nearest
nickel if the penny disappears.

-- Almost two-thirds of Americans (63 percent) still feel the
penny should be retained as an important symbol of American
culture, history and the economy.

While support for the penny is stronger, there also is more evidence that its value as daily tender is fading. Sixty-nine percent of people will pick up pennies off the ground compared to 79 percent just a year ago.

The Coinstar study also revealed that -- if the penny does disappear -- more respondents would not change their payment behaviors to avoid "rounded up" pricing. Forty-six percent of respondents report they wouldn't change how they pay for things compared to 37 percent who would use debit/credit to avoid rounding up.

Coinstar estimates that about 11 percent of the $10.5 billion of coin out of circulation in the United States is pennies.

Other findings from the survey include:

-- 58 percent are not very concerned or not at all concerned that
the penny costs more to produce than its value.

-- While support for picking pennies up off the ground is
eroding, the practice varies widely by age group (60 percent
ages 18 to 34 compared to 89 percent for seniors 65+).

-- 23 percent of people who pick up pennies still respect
superstition (only pick up heads), and 27 percent of this
group actually turn over a bad coin (tails) to benefit the
next person.

About the Poll

In its ninth year, the Coinstar National Currency Poll was launched in April 1998 to provide information to better understand coin and currency habits in America, and track trends, behaviors and attitudes toward currency -- both traditional and new forms, as well as related topics. Poll results are compiled by an independent market research firm through a telephone research study. Each edition of the Coinstar National Currency Poll contains a nationally representative sample of more than 1,000 Americans age 18+, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

We got rid of the half cent over a hundred years ago, I say it's about time the penny got taken out of circulation as well.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by nazpyro

Or include tax in the displayed price of an item... again, like Australia.

Yeah I don't know why we don't do that already. All it does is make you more pissed off when you get up to the cash register and THEN realize how much money you are really spending after everything is rung up. I, for one, would rather know up front how much i'm going to be spending on things before I get to the cash register.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

If you can't afford to drive, then you can't afford to drive. I don't think raising the price of gas 4 cents more at a time is going to change that fact. And even if some people have to sell their car and start walking, riding the bus, or finding other means of transportation would that not be better for the environment? The US STILL has WAY cheaper gas than most parts of the world.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Did you REALLY just suggest that taking the penny out of circulation might make people forget the number 1?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?