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Should Britain abolish the penny?


Still Waters

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As a unit of currency it may not be worth much, but do we really want to bid it farewell? We’ve long since seen the demise of the farthing and the much-loved 12-sided threepenny bit, but now there’s a campaign to consign the penny to history, too.

No matter that there are more than 11 billion in circulation, a growing number of Britons think we can do without one of the oldest coins in our history.

Canada has already ditched its cent (known as a penny) — following similar moves in Australia and New Zealand to abolish their low-denomination coins. The Canadian finance minister said: ‘The penny is a currency without any currency. Financial institutions face increasing costs for handling, storing and transporting pennies. Over time, the penny’s burden to the economy has grown relative to its value as a means of payment.’

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Probably not, although these days it seems useless. You can't buy anything for one pence.

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What are they going to do if someone comes in with cash and is owed a penny back?

I guess they will have to establish another law that all prices have to be divisible by 5, or 10. Or that things are only sellable in pounds. Or maybe they'll write off the odd pennys? HA! HA HA HA! Like that is going to happen.

I guess that means I vote No.

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You can't buy anything for one pence.

That's because there's no such thing as "one pence". That would be like saying "one mice."

The word "pence" is plural, not singular. It is plural for "penny."

The plural for "penny", when the penny you are talking about is the actual currency which we have in Britain, 100 of which make up a pound, rather than just the name of the smallest unit of coin, is "pence."

The plural of "penny" when the penny you are talking about is not the unit of currency but just the name of the smallest-valued coin, is "pennies", such as in America, where the one cent coin is named "a penny" and two one cent coins are "two pennies."

So, in Britain, we have the one penny coin (take a look at your 1p coin and it says "one penny" on it, not "one pence"), not the one pence coin.

1_84.jpg

So our coins are:

1 penny

2 pence

5 pence

10 pence

20 pence

50 pence

100 pence (£1)

200 pence (£2)

"Pence" being the plural of "penny" is just the same as "mice" being the plural of "mouse".

1 mouse and two mice.

1 penny and 100 pence.

Edited by TheLastLazyGun
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Snip.

You really felt a need to tell me that?

One penny is what people refer to as one pence, but yeah, you're right.

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To translate a German saying ( a little awkwardly): Who does not honor the penny does not have a value for the pound.

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No.

EDIT - If pennies went, my life savings would be gone.

Edited by King Fluffs
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Well we're getting rid of it because it cost 1.5 cents to make a penny. So in all we were losing money by making money. In theory this should result in savings. See what happens.

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Well we're getting rid of it because it cost 1.5 cents to make a penny. So in all we were losing money by making money. In theory this should result in savings. See what happens.

How many times does a penny change hands in its lifetime?

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How many times does a penny change hands in its lifetime?

It's a very interesting question. A while back someone started an online search for a specific one dollar (US) bill. It was called "where's George?". People who found themselves with this one note were to login to the sight and say where they had it before they spent it. Not sure what the record was for where it traveled.

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A saying pops to mind, "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves." I remember my nan saying it a lot :)

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Perhaps the question should be "What material should the penny be made of to be economically worthwhile?"

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BIN it,It was ok before decimal coinage,but those who remember them days will remember goods being £3-19-11d or any amount with 11d on the end,because shops thought they could con folk into believing that the above was cheaper than £4-00.Then we went Decimal so things became £3-99p instead of £4-00,not forgetting that 1p equalled 2 and 1/2d.. Imagine buying a car for £8999-99p, does that look cheaper than £9000-00,and dont forget your change sir...You can also BIN the 5p for me as they are a damned nuisance,gone are the days when you could get into the Movies for a "Tanner"...5p today buys you 1/3rd of a fag,but you can always give the bank a headache when you take your savings jar in with £20-00's worth ha ha

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Perhaps the question should be "What material should the penny be made of to be economically worthwhile?"

Chocolate.

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If you gave a Tramp a penny these days for a cup of tea,like we used to,you would probably get smashed in the Gob,or knifed for being insulting...BIN it

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BIN it,It was ok before decimal coinage,but those who remember them days will remember goods being £3-19-11d or any amount with 11d on the end,because shops thought they could con folk into believing that the above was cheaper than £4-00.

I used to buy stockings at £2-11d a pair :D

These 1p coins are fiddly wee things, I keep some in my purse but don't seem to need them often. The rest I keep at home. The old 1d coins had more uses, like the slot machines, one arm bandits etc....and not forgetting 'spending a penny' The good old days lol.

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BIN it,It was ok before decimal coinage,but those who remember them days will remember goods being £3-19-11d or any amount with 11d on the end,because shops thought they could con folk into believing that the above was cheaper than £4-00.Then we went Decimal so things became £3-99p instead of £4-00,not forgetting that 1p equalled 2 and 1/2d.. Imagine buying a car for £8999-99p, does that look cheaper than £9000-00,and dont forget your change sir...You can also BIN the 5p for me as they are a damned nuisance,gone are the days when you could get into the Movies for a "Tanner"...5p today buys you 1/3rd of a fag,but you can always give the bank a headache when you take your savings jar in with £20-00's worth ha ha

Remember 5p buys a wee Caramac bar? 25p now. :(

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Didn't we have the same discussion/argument when abolishing the half-penny?

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Perhaps the question should be "What material should the penny be made of to be economically worthwhile?"

Both iron and aluminum cost about 1/4 the cost of copper, per pound.

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What are they going to do if someone comes in with cash and is owed a penny back?

I guess they will have to establish another law that all prices have to be divisible by 5, or 10. Or that things are only sellable in pounds. Or maybe they'll write off the odd pennys? HA! HA HA HA! Like that is going to happen.

I guess that means I vote No.

We've got nothing less than ten cents here. They use something called 'Swedish Rounding' and round up or down to the nearest ten cents.

I rarely use cash now. I use a card that instantly takes the correct amount (not rounded) out of my account.

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I used to buy stockings at £2-11d a pair :D

These 1p coins are fiddly wee things, I keep some in my purse but don't seem to need them often. The rest I keep at home. The old 1d coins had more uses, like the slot machines, one arm bandits etc....and not forgetting 'spending a penny' The good old days lol.

Was there a time when people in England actually had to pay a penny to use the "loo" in public?

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As the new penny is nothing like the old penny I dont really mind losing it. The original penny is long gone anyway.

The only problem I can see is this :-

Most items being sold in the UK are one penny below the round pound. £13.99 for something which should be £14.00. This is for purely psychological reasons, the thinking being that somebody sees an item for £13.99 is more likely to pay for it than if they see £14.00. What will they do if the penny is no longer available as change. Reduce it to £13.95? Probably lol.

edit.....I say bring back the old cartwheel penny. You really knew you had some money in your pocket in those days :)

Edited by Englishgent
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You really felt a need to tell me that?

One penny is what people refer to as one pence, but yeah, you're right.

People shouldn't call it one pence. It's wrong.

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