@@coltongamez4675 I'm not sure what "indormation" means, but you might think a little about how _all_ of your currency is being made worth less and less until it is worthless. About how putting money in savings is a poor investment because even with the meager interest it will earn, it still _loses_ value to inflation.
Depending on when in 2022 you do the math the number will change a lot. 2% inflation target used to be hard to reach, now it's nearly impossible to get it back that low.
As a kid I used to hate the fact that people were trying to rid themselves of pennies... and then I grew up and realized things cost more than a dollar
I still use pennies dimes nickels quarters and half dollars and dollar coins. Pennies still have power but not as much it did in the 1970s and early 1980s. There's few vending machines,lots and lots of charities,banks coinstars,mom and pop stores,some local candy bars that cost 50 cents you can use 50 or less pennies, business transactions and taxes that still rely on the pennies. There not entirely worthless plus they do help beat inflation and keep mom and pop stores open.
@@mefit8725 if we switched to the 5 cents prices will go up because of greed when rounding alot of companies will raise price's instead of paying 1.25 your paying 1.45 if not more but as supply and demand increases it goes up over the years and less then 30 years the 5 cent will be somewhat useless like it's predecessor the penny because of the greed and inflation. The penny prevents such things by keeping the prices balanced and low based on competition if a candy bar is 1.25 one place will sell it 1.18 or 1.22 rather going up in prices based on high rounding.
@@alexcholagh8330 That's just your speculation based on no facts. Even when cents stop being produced they will still be used. Several countries like New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands and Canada got rid of their 1cents with no economical catastrophy you're discribing. Ultimately, if people chose to, they could still use the single cents. But pumping out more and more of them just wastes money and time.
@@mefit8725 they raised prices and pays in Canada Europe and other countries. But in the United States the prices will go high cause of greed and it will hurt peoples pays
The fact that there's someone out there that would advocate for the maintenance of the penny because it would be unpatriotic to stop producing a coin because a certain dude would stop being printed on said coin is absolutely bonkers to me. The US sure is a weird country
I was debating someone on Reddit about changing the Ontario flag from the Red Ensign because to them "it would be erasing our history" to change it. That backwards mindset exists everywhere.
So you're saying that instead of fixing our broken system, we made a sensible action illegal so we could keep using our old system? Yeah, that sounds like us.
The only time I ever really cared about pennies was to save time because of how little they were worth. When I got out of high school I bounced around a couple fast food jobs until I was a manager at one of my jobs then I stuck around for a bit. I really got a handle of the customer service parts of the job early on into my working life. Most of those jobs I had I dealt with lobby and drive thru customers. Despite making low wages, I still kept pennies in my pocket for customers. Once in a while you bump into a customer whose total is 1 or 2 cents over an even dollar amount who just rounds up to the next dollar (for example their total; is 4.02 and they give you a 5 dollar bill). Pennies are useless enough where I can offer them out in that situation and save time for both me and the customer at practically no cost to me. Plus lots of people appreciate when you can hand them back a dollar bills instead of 3 quarters, 2 dimes, and 3 or 4 pennies.
In the Netherlands, when the total amount it 4.02 and the customer wants to pay by cash, the cashier will round the total down to 4.00 and give back 1 euro when the customers pays with a 5 euro bill.
Fun fact: the United States has already phased out two other coins with presidents on them: the $1 coin (with Ike before they went to the Susan B. Anthony variation in 1979 and the Modern variation in 1999) and the $0.50 coin (they are still made with JFK, but you rarely see them in circulation). Getting rid of the penny wouldn't really be a bad thing since only collectors really care about them, and even then they care more about the older ones (pre 1982). So really there is no reason to keep the penny.
I have a friend who says that robots will kill us all not out of rebellion, but because they are doing exactly what we told them to do and we didn't fully understand all of the implications when we told them to do it. For example, we tell the robots to kill pennies, and they include everyone named Penny in that directive.
What would be kind of funny is that ironically abolishing the Penny would make it valuable. Older pennies like the Indian Head and Wheat pennies would rise more in value and the pennies after the wheat penny would start to gain in value. Similarly the Half Cent is actually not worth half a cent they can be from worthless , to thousands of dollars. The Penny would become more powerful if Discontinued than if it were to continue.
…I have a classmate named Penny. We had a sub and we challenged him to guess all our names with his eyes closed. He did it pretty quickly, but then started struggling with her, everyone started screaming, “a coin with little value.” I can’t get it out of my head, help.
Here in Canada, we got rid of pennies a while ago. Nothing's really changed. The only difference is that now dimes are the coins so small nobody bothers to pick them up.
The thing I thought was bizarre about Canada was that noone uses the 50c, and the mint just gave up even trying to get people to use it. Wiki suggests that this might be because the majority of people think that its still made of silver and hoard it, but how could people be so wrong for so long?
I'm honestly of the opinion that if they get rid of our nickels and dimes I'd be happy. Whenever I get a coffee at Tim's or something I literally never take anything less than a quarter because I think they're more effort than they're worth.
i live in Germany and i dunno the only time i had trouble with the 1 cent euro coin was when i was trying to throw snap them harder to do when the Projectile is smaller than the thumb finger print
the ultimate insult: you are a penny. might seem a little weak, huh? well, here you go: • you're not worth much • nobody wants you • everyone has touched you • you're dirty • you're on the streets • you're two faced • you're in everyone's pants
Each state has a different sales tax and different areas within a state can have a different sales tax. When you consider the fact there’s 50 states, it’s just too much for advertisers and companies to keep track of. Personally, I’ve never been bothered by it and no one I know has either.
@@sparrowpelt20xx61 At least here in Aus, the price tags on items aren't placed by the companies that produce them, but by the stores that are selling them, I suppose I understand advertisers struggling, but outside of voiced prices, it wouldn't be too hard to automatically update the price based on the state, and even with voiced prices, it would be pretty easy to just record a different line for each state; And i've only just looked this up, so you probably know better than me, but it seems there are only about a dozen different sales taxes across the US.
Real Big Fish Let ask you something. How easy do you think it is to get most of the 50 states to agree on something? On one hand you have California that has a higher minimum wage but a higher sales tax (the other state like to make fun of them for that) and on the other hand you have states like New Hampshire with no statewide sales tax. There’s no way the federal government would or even could try to force the states to use the same tax rate. Plus, when you consider how taxes have played a part in our history. I think the federal government would be too scared to even try.
My father notoriously hates pennies and he says the only good they'll do are archaeologists in a few thousand years. So in his backyard (my childhood home) he dug a hole and buried handfuls of pennies.
Huh, I didn't even know the US doesn't include sales tax in store prices. That's... completely insane. If I see a price tag, I want to be informed of _how much it will cost me_.
Brandon M. Bruursema Each state has its own tax policy so they have different percentages or none at all, so what is so hard with adding it to the prices?
sion8 Sure this may sound so simple to someone in a country with only one tax rate. The US is made of several stats that act as mini-countries with some of their own rules. The obvious reason is in your own paragraph. Things are constantly being shipped around state-to-state with set retail prices on boxes, labels and tags that cannot accommodate different tax rates. To even try to label everything with tax in mind is asinine, only small stores do it and only sometimes.
Brandon M. Bruursema That is true, however most of the time when I shop, the shelf I pick the item I'm interest in from actually has the price on it, why can't this label on shelves have the full price on it? Mind you, I work at retail and know how often my coworkers change prices on different items on the sales floor at the store I work at which is almost weekly; the tax doesn't change weekly the offers for them do, yet I see no trouble at the register adding said state tax in along with the other products prices why do I have to calculate all of my products total price before I pay? In the state I live in I know for sure food doesn't have state tax but most everything else does and guess what in New York they have two different tax rate for different products and I can only guess which would be under one or the other or both tax rates.
The only us coin currently in popular circulation that really makes sense anymore is the quarter. I'd be down to get rid of the penny, nickel, and dime and replace them with the half dollar and dollar coins
When I was in like 6th grade, we were shown this video in class.(obviously with the intent to teach us something) After school that day, I went home, watched this at least 2 more times for entertainment purposes, and proceeded to watch every CGP Grey video I could find. I will sub twice to make up for how I didn't all those years ago.
And I bet you learned more that stuck with you from a 5 minute youtube video than the rest of the school day. Modern public education is basically daycare. Even into grade 12 about 1/2 the time is useless busy work or useless things you wont remember 1 year later.
That's how I found Kurzgesagt! I also convinced a teacher I was student aiding for to show a cgp grey video when I was in high school. Hopefully some of those kids sought out the channel later.
@@tristantheoofer2 Yep, But I figured it would be more interesting to show it as all of those coins being worth less. Apparently they will finally stop minting the Penny in 2023. But they will keep circulating for a while longer.
Also, sales tax applies to some items and not others in grocery stores, so $20 dollars in groceries might cost $20, or it might cost more! Also, some regions will have higher sales tax than other regions! It's a wonderfully awful mess that you can't possibly learn all of!
@@danzjz3923 Like he said, it depends. But in lower condition, braided hair half cents (1840-1857) are worth $60+. With classic heads, (1809-1836) you could expect $80-$100 in the same condition. Draped busts (1800-1808) are $110+, and anything before 1800 could be worth upper hundreds to thousands. But there are many special coins that are worth WAY more the the aforementioned values.
I remember a long time ago, my high school chemistry teacher had us do an experiment that involved pennies, so he went to the bank to exchange a five dollar bill for five hundred pennies and he said it took him 10 minutes of explaining to the teller why he was doing this to get them.
In Norway, we have removed coins worth under roughly 10 US cent. And in my opinion, we can just as well remove the coin worth about 10 cent as well, and be left with the 50 cent coin as our smallest coin. I mean, who uses cash anyway?
I increase the value of my pennies by over 1,000% by drilling 1/4" holes in them and use as washers on projects. The shiny copper looks very nice too.😁
I used to do that, but it's difficult to drill a round ¼" hole in the copper-coated zinc ones. The bit bounces around, and the hole ends up too large and somewhat triangular. 🙃
@@MikeV8652 your drill bit may need sharpening - the trick is to make sure the bit's point is on dead center...if not it'll do what you described. (Having a triangular shaped hole has been no issue for me) 😁👍
Aussie here, we only go down to 5cents and I have actually bought a mcdonlds meal as a kid with only 5c coins. It was fun and the cashier was very nice about it. It was only a small to medium ziplock bag of 5c coins.
I was thinking “man why are all these dead meme pictures in here” Then I realized: This was from 7 almost 8 years ago. 2011 is 8 years ago. We’re almost a decade away from those dead memes that everyone remembers and hates.
Alright... I have an idea... Step 1: Ask the bank for money-rolls of pennies... Step 2: Melt them down (screw the law) Step 3: Sell the copper at a pawn shop for double what you spent. Step 4: Use copper profit to buy more pennies Step 5: Repeat until you're able to buy Bill Gates and Donald Trump.
oh, until the guy at the pawn shop realizes he's actually buying 97.5% nickel and only 2.5% copper (according to wikipedia). If you did actually attempt this you would have to shave the copper off of the penny and keep the two materials separate.
It doesn't matter what the composition of the penny is. The material itself is worth 1.8 cents per penny, so you would still be profitable if you sell the nickel on top of the copper.
Assuming 2% annual inflation, if we use "less valuable than a half-penny in 1857" as the test for retirement, we should retire the quarter in 2045, and the dollar bill/coin in 2115.
@@Orincaby saying nobody cares to something copied is like not caring about someone who stole thousands of videos and is more popular than the original creators.
@@wowok8196 I disagree, comments take merely a minute to make. Videos, on the other hand, can take weeks to produce. So, that analogy really does not work.
Maybe Donald Trump will make the penny go away? I don't know if he even has the power to do that, but he would be remembered for doing one good thing. :D
Also, non-profit organizations don't have to pay a sales tax. So the system could 'in theory' get pretty complicated. If all items are posted with tax. Not to mention the differences in local sales tax vs state sales tax vs the amount the Federal Govt levies. And some states don't tax clothing or food, while others might. It may seem complicated, but it is actually a well thought process that helps keep sales in respective states and so on.
in my experience working at a gas station, pennies are generally used to get rid of other change. say something is 19.57: you give the cashier 20.02, so you get 45¢ back and not 43¢ so that your change is less coins. people don’t like carrying coins.
But you realise that system is only in place because pennies exist. Without pennies $19.57 would be rounded down to $19.55 or if you got rid of the 5¢ it would round up to $19.60.
@@stevencowan37 Try giving a cashier under about 30 years old a 50 cent piece and their head will pretty much explode. Used one in a transaction and the young girl thought it was worth $2 and gave me back too much change. Yeah, the United States has never had a $2 coin.
It's great you can do that math, most of us can't on site. It's also frustrating for the cashier to deal with when their use to changing whole bills during the day. Counting out at the end is a pain as well when we get handfuls of change from kids and karen's
Different jurisdictions in the U.S. have different sales tax levels, and they change relatively frequently, so it's easier (in most settings) for merchants to just slap the taxes on at the end, especially in the era of online commerce.
@@Draco137YT it really isn't. A retailer only has to worry about local tax levels, and as a software engineer I can attest that it would be the matter of literally 2-3 hours (at most) of work to change a website to reflect taxation in the price based on the user's locality. This is just stubbornness.
@@thetheory6159 retailers probably also think that by showcasing a price as lower than it actually is, people are more likely to buy. I'm not sure how true this idea is, but I am sure that the thought that it *might* be true is probably enough to cause the retailers to not want to change.
The function of currency is facilitate trade, not to hold value. All metals have value because humans decide they do, not because they are inherently valuable, which makes them no different in this context.
You forgot to mention the Czech Republic that got rid of ALL of their lower denomination coins in 2008 for the exact reasons you listed. They used to have 10-haler, 20-haler, and 50-haler coins, comically tiny and weirdly lightweight coins made of aluminum. Now the lowest denomination is 1 crown (worth ~4 US cents).
Well yes the time difference is almost 10 years, when the video was made Canada still used pennies and the fact that he made a video about Canada ditching the pennies about 4 months after this video.
Diamond Cubez no, and things cost like $19.99 to make them look cheaper so the real price is tax on top of the advertised price which is always some ridiculous decimal
Diamond Cubez And then for some reason gas always has tax included. Although it could be time consuming if it wasn't, and it would make people more aware of the outrageous taxes they are paying just for the "privilege" of mobility.
If I could restructure our cash system in the United States, I would abolish both the penny and the nickel, keep the dime as the smallest unit of currency, include taxes in the price tag, round up the prices to the nearest ten cents, abolish the quarter in favor of a 50¢ coin, and abolish the $1 bill in favor of a $1 coin.
A one dollar coin would work so much better for vending machines. Single dollar bills get by far the most use, and therefore the most wear and tear, so a one dollar coin would be far more sturdy.
2020 here. By the time the video was made, here's the list of countries that discontinued their penny denomination (or closest relative) : Belgium (2014), Italy (2018), Bahamas (2020), Canada (2012), Trinidad & Tobago (2018), Croatia (2012), Moldova (2017), Russia (2017), Ukraine (2018) Some countries are starting to phase out 5 cents. The heck are you doing, 'merica?
Here in Chile we retired the 1 and 5 peso coins, leaving 10 as the smallest denomination (worth 1.5 us pennies) about a year ago. I'd love to see the 10 peso go as well, Scandinavian countries do great with their one krone coin (worth about 10 cents)
@@LegDayLas well that's the sad part, a lot of people don't realize that you can just get them from the bank teller. They're trying to put them into circulation but normally people don't ask for them or get confused when they're handed coins instead of bills.
Some people in the south have a weird view of Lincoln, blaming him for the Civil War when he wasn't even in office when the first shots were fired (By the confederacy)
Red Priest I think by that point they should just accept it. I'm Native American and I don't go around constantly complaining about Andrew Jackson. He died before my grandparents were born!
+Alex Shannon Well, when you consider the fact that Lincoln won the election without a single electoral vote from the South and therefore the South had effectively lost it's voice in the election, it's no surprised it left.
Fun fact! In 2020, after another 9 years of inflation, the penny is 15% less valuable than when this video was made!
DEATH
TO
PENNIES
@@coltongamez4675 why so negative?
@@yukidoodle5347 Shilling for the pennies?
@@coltongamez4675 I'm not sure what "indormation" means, but you might think a little about how _all_ of your currency is being made worth less and less until it is worthless. About how putting money in savings is a poor investment because even with the meager interest it will earn, it still _loses_ value to inflation.
Ughhhhhhh. Thanks for making me more upset that it’s still around.
The only use of the penny is for scratch off cards, which means that the penny's main use is actually to help you lose money.
Dr. Peopers I usually use quarters for that, the odd time we actually buy a ticket.
What if you need a penny cuz something you want costs 10.21 hmMMMMmMmMmmmMmMmMmMM 🤨
Edit: for the people who are still replying. It’s a joke
ITS_NIGHT_WOLFIE then it would’ve rounded down
@@wolfie__lol then I just use a $10 bill and a $1 bill.
@@tyxgamer3 but we still need pennies. No matter what a penny is money!
Fun fact! In 2022, after another 11 years of inflation, the penny is 23% less valuable than when this video was made!
Half of that inflation is the past year.
Hmmm
With 2% inflation per year it would be over 24% less buying power.
@@YHDiamond funny how that works doesn't it? Rooting for Brandon!
Depending on when in 2022 you do the math the number will change a lot. 2% inflation target used to be hard to reach, now it's nearly impossible to get it back that low.
fun fact: the us is actually discontinuing pennies
Fun fact: you can also use pennies as a souvenir by putting them in one of those penny stampeders.
I like how crushing a penny is legal, but melting it isn't
@@TaliyahP you can do both, if you try to use as currency then, then thats a crime
@@JacksonOfTheJerry That is false. The penny will not stop the train.
done that
You can also injure yourself by putting them in your nose
Not talking from personal experience, maybe
melt the pennies into a giant copper statue of lincoln. That way everyone's happy.
Well, almost everyone.
yeah i would tear it down
@@sonofsanto why?
@@Darkestsheltz they wouldnt, they just wanted to
comment something
*zink
@@sonofsanto away down south in the land of traitors
As a kid I used to hate the fact that people were trying to rid themselves of pennies... and then I grew up and realized things cost more than a dollar
I still use pennies dimes nickels quarters and half dollars and dollar coins. Pennies still have power but not as much it did in the 1970s and early 1980s. There's few vending machines,lots and lots of charities,banks coinstars,mom and pop stores,some local candy bars that cost 50 cents you can use 50 or less pennies, business transactions and taxes that still rely on the pennies. There not entirely worthless plus they do help beat inflation and keep mom and pop stores open.
@@alexcholagh8330 Imagine all this you just described... But with 5cents instead xd
@@mefit8725 if we switched to the 5 cents prices will go up because of greed when rounding alot of companies will raise price's instead of paying 1.25 your paying 1.45 if not more but as supply and demand increases it goes up over the years and less then 30 years the 5 cent will be somewhat useless like it's predecessor the penny because of the greed and inflation. The penny prevents such things by keeping the prices balanced and low based on competition if a candy bar is 1.25 one place will sell it 1.18 or 1.22 rather going up in prices based on high rounding.
@@alexcholagh8330 That's just your speculation based on no facts.
Even when cents stop being produced they will still be used.
Several countries like New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands and Canada got rid of their 1cents with no economical catastrophy you're discribing.
Ultimately, if people chose to, they could still use the single cents. But pumping out more and more of them just wastes money and time.
@@mefit8725 they raised prices and pays in Canada Europe and other countries. But in the United States the prices will go high cause of greed and it will hurt peoples pays
Some cool info! Ten years on, the penny now costs 2.1 cents to manufacture. On top of that too, the nickel costs 8.5 cents to make.
The fact that there's someone out there that would advocate for the maintenance of the penny because it would be unpatriotic to stop producing a coin because a certain dude would stop being printed on said coin is absolutely bonkers to me. The US sure is a weird country
We're pretty hard core with our veneration of dead presidents.
Seems like the main advocate for keeping pennies is the company that sells the zinc blanks to the government.
I was debating someone on Reddit about changing the Ontario flag from the Red Ensign because to them "it would be erasing our history" to change it. That backwards mindset exists everywhere.
Not to mention he's also on the 5 dollar bill
Unironically seeing a trollface is like discovering an ancient artifact
We do a mild amount of trolling
@@Champion919Games a smidgen of tomfoolery
Time frame?
@@ButWhyMe... 1:06
@@theanomaly2587 Thanks~
So you're saying that instead of fixing our broken system, we made a sensible action illegal so we could keep using our old system? Yeah, that sounds like us.
Us or the U.S
@Aiden Charles Arthur Smawfield agreed
@@doodlebob5548 both mean the same thing
@@JoshuaDowdUSBC "us" as the word, or "us" as people who can't bother to get uppercase letters
@@SomeOne-gm5md and in this context as I am assuming he is American would convey the exact same message.
The only time I ever really cared about pennies was to save time because of how little they were worth. When I got out of high school I bounced around a couple fast food jobs until I was a manager at one of my jobs then I stuck around for a bit. I really got a handle of the customer service parts of the job early on into my working life. Most of those jobs I had I dealt with lobby and drive thru customers. Despite making low wages, I still kept pennies in my pocket for customers. Once in a while you bump into a customer whose total is 1 or 2 cents over an even dollar amount who just rounds up to the next dollar (for example their total; is 4.02 and they give you a 5 dollar bill). Pennies are useless enough where I can offer them out in that situation and save time for both me and the customer at practically no cost to me. Plus lots of people appreciate when you can hand them back a dollar bills instead of 3 quarters, 2 dimes, and 3 or 4 pennies.
In the Netherlands, when the total amount it 4.02 and the customer wants to pay by cash, the cashier will round the total down to 4.00 and give back 1 euro when the customers pays with a 5 euro bill.
@@SuperNielsch Nice, I like that! Shoutouts to the Netherlands
Fun fact: the United States has already phased out two other coins with presidents on them: the $1 coin (with Ike before they went to the Susan B. Anthony variation in 1979 and the Modern variation in 1999) and the $0.50 coin (they are still made with JFK, but you rarely see them in circulation). Getting rid of the penny wouldn't really be a bad thing since only collectors really care about them, and even then they care more about the older ones (pre 1982). So really there is no reason to keep the penny.
Grey:Whats your little daugher’s name?
Dad:Penny
Grey: *robot scream*
@@ichijofestival2576 I guess the male equivalent would be if I called my son Nick or Nickolas as in a (nick)el isn't much better than a penny.
Meh
@@Ginrikuzuma No, that's the equivalent of someone being called Pen. The nickel equivalent of naming someone Penny is to name someone Nickel.
haaaha
I have a friend who says that robots will kill us all not out of rebellion, but because they are doing exactly what we told them to do and we didn't fully understand all of the implications when we told them to do it. For example, we tell the robots to kill pennies, and they include everyone named Penny in that directive.
Seven years later and we still have the penny
Why did you come here?
No No no 6 years
just another way in which Canada is ever so slightly better :P
Hehe WE never HAD PeNiEs!
Did I spell that right I'm from NZ sooooo ya.
I live in canada no pennies here
What would be kind of funny is that ironically abolishing the Penny would make it valuable. Older pennies like the Indian Head and Wheat pennies would rise more in value and the pennies after the wheat penny would start to gain in value. Similarly the Half Cent is actually not worth half a cent they can be from worthless , to thousands of dollars. The Penny would become more powerful if Discontinued than if it were to continue.
Mostly to collectors though. If it would be abolished, it wouldnt be legal tender
…I have a classmate named Penny. We had a sub and we challenged him to guess all our names with his eyes closed. He did it pretty quickly, but then started struggling with her, everyone started screaming, “a coin with little value.” I can’t get it out of my head, help.
Here in Canada, we got rid of pennies a while ago. Nothing's really changed. The only difference is that now dimes are the coins so small nobody bothers to pick them up.
He made a video on Canada’s pennies too.
The thing I thought was bizarre about Canada was that noone uses the 50c, and the mint just gave up even trying to get people to use it. Wiki suggests that this might be because the majority of people think that its still made of silver and hoard it, but how could people be so wrong for so long?
@@wildec2 I was about to comment that Canada doesn't have a 50c coin... However now I'm astounded I've never seen one.
I'm honestly of the opinion that if they get rid of our nickels and dimes I'd be happy. Whenever I get a coffee at Tim's or something I literally never take anything less than a quarter because I think they're more effort than they're worth.
@@BBB_bbb_BBB They almost literally are. It's less of a concern now though, since most people use cards. What with the pandemic and all.
I'm a cashier in France.
Believe him, the euro 1 cent coin really is ridiculously small.
And I keep dropping em it's driving me nuts
Dutch child here. I feel u
Tbh im from the balkans and i have seen a one cent coin once in my life
i live in Germany and i dunno the only time i had trouble with the 1 cent euro coin was when i was trying to throw snap them
harder to do when the Projectile is smaller than the thumb finger print
I'm from Ireland and there's an endless stream of 1 2 and 5 cent coins just lying everywhere that no one could be bothered with
@@calebryan1716 xD
its great throwing equipment then xD
So the solution is to create a massive deflation, so penny gain power again.
Genius solution
How the hell do we do that?
as a person named Abe who still isn't convinced that the penny needs to die, that last line struck a VERY personal note
the ultimate insult:
you are a penny.
might seem a little weak, huh? well, here you go:
• you're not worth much
• nobody wants you
• everyone has touched you
• you're dirty
• you're on the streets
• you're two faced
• you're in everyone's pants
Shit might use it
This is the best comment ever
(I ment the roast not trying to be rude)
You're nothing more than a waste of space and time* :)
You stole that from SSSniper Wolf
Collin Caperton IKR 😂
Wait a second, in the US you only know how much you're going to pay when you're already at the register?! Absolutely barbaric.
Each state has a different sales tax and different areas within a state can have a different sales tax. When you consider the fact there’s 50 states, it’s just too much for advertisers and companies to keep track of. Personally, I’ve never been bothered by it and no one I know has either.
@@sparrowpelt20xx61 At least here in Aus, the price tags on items aren't placed by the companies that produce them, but by the stores that are selling them, I suppose I understand advertisers struggling, but outside of voiced prices, it wouldn't be too hard to automatically update the price based on the state, and even with voiced prices, it would be pretty easy to just record a different line for each state; And i've only just looked this up, so you probably know better than me, but it seems there are only about a dozen different sales taxes across the US.
Exactly my thoughts... What the fck...?!
@@sparrowpelt20xx61 this sounds like a nice little excuse to hide true prices and make people buy more stuff to me
Real Big Fish Let ask you something. How easy do you think it is to get most of the 50 states to agree on something? On one hand you have California that has a higher minimum wage but a higher sales tax (the other state like to make fun of them for that) and on the other hand you have states like New Hampshire with no statewide sales tax. There’s no way the federal government would or even could try to force the states to use the same tax rate. Plus, when you consider how taxes have played a part in our history. I think the federal government would be too scared to even try.
My father notoriously hates pennies and he says the only good they'll do are archaeologists in a few thousand years. So in his backyard (my childhood home) he dug a hole and buried handfuls of pennies.
rip the old icon to this video
Huh, I didn't even know the US doesn't include sales tax in store prices. That's... completely insane. If I see a price tag, I want to be informed of _how much it will cost me_.
ikr totally insane.
I just do it in my head...
Brandon M. Bruursema
Each state has its own tax policy so they have different percentages or none at all, so what is so hard with adding it to the prices?
sion8 Sure this may sound so simple to someone in a country with only one tax rate. The US is made of several stats that act as mini-countries with some of their own rules. The obvious reason is in your own paragraph. Things are constantly being shipped around state-to-state with set retail prices on boxes, labels and tags that cannot accommodate different tax rates. To even try to label everything with tax in mind is asinine, only small stores do it and only sometimes.
Brandon M. Bruursema
That is true, however most of the time when I shop, the shelf I pick the item I'm interest in from actually has the price on it, why can't this label on shelves have the full price on it? Mind you, I work at retail and know how often my coworkers change prices on different items on the sales floor at the store I work at which is almost weekly; the tax doesn't change weekly the offers for them do, yet I see no trouble at the register adding said state tax in along with the other products prices why do I have to calculate all of my products total price before I pay? In the state I live in I know for sure food doesn't have state tax but most everything else does and guess what in New York they have two different tax rate for different products and I can only guess which would be under one or the other or both tax rates.
Over 7 years later and nothing has... change-d.
It makes no, cents.
Dark-Lark Underrated comment.
Dark-Lark hahaha
THIS IS PUN PATROL GET DOWN ON THE GROUND WITH YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD
@@AuroraIceFlame I do Nazi why I should listen to you, Ann-d Frank-ly, I do not care.
Dark-Lark 👏
The only us coin currently in popular circulation that really makes sense anymore is the quarter. I'd be down to get rid of the penny, nickel, and dime and replace them with the half dollar and dollar coins
When I was in like 6th grade, we were shown this video in class.(obviously with the intent to teach us something) After school that day, I went home, watched this at least 2 more times for entertainment purposes, and proceeded to watch every CGP Grey video I could find. I will sub twice to make up for how I didn't all those years ago.
And I bet you learned more that stuck with you from a 5 minute youtube video than the rest of the school day. Modern public education is basically daycare. Even into grade 12 about 1/2 the time is useless busy work or useless things you wont remember 1 year later.
@@ccibinel true
@@ccibinel public education in most of the us is amazing. What matters most is what you make of it.
@@dantesfootballreviews8464 there are still many flaws in the system
That's how I found Kurzgesagt! I also convinced a teacher I was student aiding for to show a cgp grey video when I was in high school. Hopefully some of those kids sought out the channel later.
CGP Grey: Here's why we should get rid of the penny
James: WRITE THAT DOWN... WRITE THAT DOWN
I finally see a oddones out comment
Someone watches odd one out and Charles the French!
@@thesomething1559 YES
@@thesomething1559 Cultured
@@thesomething1559 YESSSS!
The half Penny now has a comparative buying power of a quarter, a Nickle, and 3 pennies.
so 33 cents
@@tristantheoofer2 Yep, But I figured it would be more interesting to show it as all of those coins being worth less. Apparently they will finally stop minting the Penny in 2023. But they will keep circulating for a while longer.
Also, sales tax applies to some items and not others in grocery stores, so $20 dollars in groceries might cost $20, or it might cost more! Also, some regions will have higher sales tax than other regions! It's a wonderfully awful mess that you can't possibly learn all of!
"That was the half cent. Seen one lately? Of course not."
Me, a coin collector: *"you underestimate me, mortal."*
me too!
Mere mortals don’t understand the power of coin collectors
wait wait wait how much is the half penny worth?
@@danzjz3923 depends on year, mintage, and condition
@@danzjz3923 Like he said, it depends. But in lower condition, braided hair half cents (1840-1857) are worth $60+. With classic heads, (1809-1836) you could expect $80-$100 in the same condition. Draped busts (1800-1808) are $110+, and anything before 1800 could be worth upper hundreds to thousands. But there are many special coins that are worth WAY more the the aforementioned values.
I remember a long time ago, my high school chemistry teacher had us do an experiment that involved pennies, so he went to the bank to exchange a five dollar bill for five hundred pennies and he said it took him 10 minutes of explaining to the teller why he was doing this to get them.
I can get over 25 dollars in CENTS without a weird thought
was it a social experiment on the bank tellers? XD
Now they would just call the cops. 😀
@@mxplixic why so?
The teller: why are you getting all of these worthless coins?
The teacher: I swear, it's for SCIENCE!
After over 10 years they finally listened! It only took the penny costing over 2x its value for them to agree.
When did this happen?
@@local-Pilot-45 The US mint is going to stop making pennies in 2023
In Norway, we have removed coins worth under roughly 10 US cent. And in my opinion, we can just as well remove the coin worth about 10 cent as well, and be left with the 50 cent coin as our smallest coin.
I mean, who uses cash anyway?
Theodd1souts teacher is one of the viewers
i agree
Twix FN yup
@👁️ Bloody hell?!
Lol
yep
Imagine in like 200 years more when videos called "Death to Dollars" will be coming out....
More like 20 years, or... considering current events, maybe 2.
@@jamestheotherone742 or a new currency like we see with zimbabwe
And rise of bitcoin
@@ivankandella8103 Unlikely. At least not in the form of BTC and its copycats, which are not viable currencies given their inherent volatility.
More like 50 years
And finally, on April 1, 2023, the last penny will be minted
What else is special about that day? What do we do on it each year?
In my country. The smallest coin we have in circulation is 1.000rials. which equals to $0.003
1:35 “try and pay 2000 pennies”
Mr.beast: hold my car key
Okay, I'll only hold it for you because I can scratch your car with that key.
Lmao
Cash Register: uuuufggggghhhh
@@joepro205 did you see the video which he bought a car with only pennies?
Curtis Liu ok someone DM Mr.Beast for a new challenge idea...buying 10 cars with only PENNIES
You could say... Pennies don’t make cents
I’ll see myself out
Why- Just Why...
Death
to
Terrible
Jokes
@@immasnarl292 no no he’s got a point
(Unlike pennies
@@miles820 *points to door*
Out
This video came out 10 years ago and I'm just now getting it in my recommends. Wonderful! Great video btw.
I accidentaly threw away like 15 pennies and seeing this makes me feel better about
I increase the value of my pennies by over 1,000% by drilling 1/4" holes in them and use as washers on projects. The shiny copper looks very nice too.😁
I used to do that, but it's difficult to drill a round ¼" hole in the copper-coated zinc ones. The bit bounces around, and the hole ends up too large and somewhat triangular. 🙃
Once you drill through the copper coating the creamy zinc filling just rots away. 😀
@@MikeV8652 your drill bit may need sharpening - the trick is to make sure the bit's point is on dead center...if not it'll do what you described. (Having a triangular shaped hole has been no issue for me)
😁👍
FBI OPEN UP! YOU’RE UNDER ARREST FOR DEFACING US CURRENCY!
The drill fatigue is probably worth more than the penny.
3:01 “Thanks for not calling me Holland” LMAO
Me reading this: "wait until he sees the Holland video"
Kudos to grey for calling it the netherlands and also translating it perfectly to dutch
Yay ummm tja uuhhh pff geef me een like als nederlands be- uhh nee ik ben niet zo laag pfffffff
@@pimvanlith3473 im not from the netherlands but i understand a bit dutch :) now take my like ;)
~ Sincerely, at least the entire population of 10 of the Dutch provinces
I enjoy collecting and rolling change. I have a container filled with $36 in pennys and I wouldnt mind adding to it
Ryan Trahan watching this video: *visible confusion*
This video is 4 years old and the US still has pennies :'(
Videos like this might change people's minds, but not a government's.
+Josh ShyGuy that is also because the cost for a penny to be made has dropped since the video was made.
Doesn't stop the pennies being virtually worthless in transactions.
true
+dhodz hoddy Have enough people shown their desire to abolish the penny?
Tip: put all your coins into a self-checkout at somewhere like Walmart or King Soopers, especially late at night when you're not holding up a line.
Was looking for this comment.
Or just roll them and drop them off at the bank
@@TheDeadOfNight37 Don’t bother rolling. We have to crack them open anyway.
@@SkiDaBird doesn't it at least make them quicker to count? just check if they fit the roll properly
I just use my spare change to get some fast food occasionally. Workers usually laugh it off and I get rid of my change. Win win
Aussie here, we only go down to 5cents and I have actually bought a mcdonlds meal as a kid with only 5c coins. It was fun and the cashier was very nice about it. It was only a small to medium ziplock bag of 5c coins.
I found a use for pennies. Fill up an SFMTA parking meter with them so it cannot accept payment, and parking isn't charged after that.
We keep pennies for
Wishing wells.
Wishing foutians.
*A grave for our broken wishes.*
the only other use is if you want to collect them and get a small amount of money ver a long period of time
I was thinking “man why are all these dead meme pictures in here”
Then I realized:
This was from 7 almost 8 years ago. 2011 is 8 years ago. We’re almost a decade away from those dead memes that everyone remembers and hates.
Do u know da wae
Sketch UT very epic thank you spinel
Sketch UT what memes
Good point spinel
Oh, Spinel! Did you change your hair?!
Anyone here after the penny went extinct? Let’s goooo finally only took a decade for the US to listen to Grey
Thank you CGP for calling the Netherlands the Netherlands and not Holland, greatly appreciate it
He has a whole video on the difference between Holland and the Netherlands.
Alright... I have an idea...
Step 1: Ask the bank for money-rolls of pennies...
Step 2: Melt them down (screw the law)
Step 3: Sell the copper at a pawn shop for double what you spent.
Step 4: Use copper profit to buy more pennies
Step 5: Repeat until you're able to buy Bill Gates and Donald Trump.
oh, until the guy at the pawn shop realizes he's actually buying 97.5% nickel and only 2.5% copper (according to wikipedia). If you did actually attempt this you would have to shave the copper off of the penny and keep the two materials separate.
You are not the first person to think of this. Why do you think it is illegal?
Inanedata
At 97.5% nickle, that would still make the penny more valuable than its face value. Think you may have meant 97.5% zinc.
Inanedata who said I wasn't separating the copper and zinc and selling them both?
It doesn't matter what the composition of the penny is. The material itself is worth 1.8 cents per penny, so you would still be profitable if you sell the nickel on top of the copper.
Use of the pennies:
Scratch cards
Wishing wells
Wishing fountains
And penny engraving machines
So scams, scams, scams, and scams. Just like the penny is to mint.
Yep, it's so worthless that we use it as a throwaway coin.
we won't get rid of the penny lol. also, 69, nice
Yeah but you can use use other coins for scratch cards
The last one is so important
Assuming 2% annual inflation, if we use "less valuable than a half-penny in 1857" as the test for retirement, we should retire the quarter in 2045, and the dollar bill/coin in 2115.
And for other coins?
thumbnails are changing!
3:00 Translation: Thanks, you didn't call me Holland.
Is it now time for the *G E K O L O N I S E E R D* comments?
This comment it stolen from one posed 6 months before it, I know because this appeared right under it with about the same thing.
@@Cysfer nobody cares
@@Orincaby saying nobody cares to something copied is like not caring about someone who stole thousands of videos and is more popular than the original creators.
@@wowok8196 I disagree, comments take merely a minute to make. Videos, on the other hand, can take weeks to produce. So, that analogy really does not work.
This was the first CGP Grey video I ever watched. Five years later, and still nothing has happened.
Maybe Donald Trump will make the penny go away? I don't know if he even has the power to do that, but he would be remembered for doing one good thing. :D
People are currently debating whether to keep the penny
When somebody asks me about those gums that have been in my car for years, ''Ye Olde Mint''
Amazing how a 10 years old video seems so new, from the imagem quality to the way he speaks
1:45 wait wait wait HOLD ON! You Americansdon't include the sales taxes in the prices??? What kind of bullshit is that?!?
Also, non-profit organizations don't have to pay a sales tax. So the system could 'in theory' get pretty complicated. If all items are posted with tax. Not to mention the differences in local sales tax vs state sales tax vs the amount the Federal Govt levies. And some states don't tax clothing or food, while others might. It may seem complicated, but it is actually a well thought process that helps keep sales in respective states and so on.
+
it's like that is most Canadian stores as well
Because we always have to do things the hard way.
Depends if you have sales tax of course.
in my experience working at a gas station, pennies are generally used to get rid of other change. say something is 19.57: you give the cashier 20.02, so you get 45¢ back and not 43¢ so that your change is less coins. people don’t like carrying coins.
I tried to do this back when I actually did anything by cash, and I always got really weird looks from cashiers.
But you realise that system is only in place because pennies exist.
Without pennies $19.57 would be rounded down to $19.55 or if you got rid of the 5¢ it would round up to $19.60.
@@stevencowan37 Try giving a cashier under about 30 years old a 50 cent piece and their head will pretty much explode. Used one in a transaction and the young girl thought it was worth $2 and gave me back too much change. Yeah, the United States has never had a $2 coin.
It's great you can do that math, most of us can't on site. It's also frustrating for the cashier to deal with when their use to changing whole bills during the day. Counting out at the end is a pain as well when we get handfuls of change from kids and karen's
This is done by people who are bright enough to think.
Obviously you've never met a self checkout. Great way to get rid of a handful of pennies
New thumbmail... Neat
Wait, purchases in America don't include gst? Why is everything in America uneccesarily hard and confusing?
Because people don’t like change.
Heh
Because we’re stubborn
Different jurisdictions in the U.S. have different sales tax levels, and they change relatively frequently, so it's easier (in most settings) for merchants to just slap the taxes on at the end, especially in the era of online commerce.
@@Draco137YT it really isn't. A retailer only has to worry about local tax levels, and as a software engineer I can attest that it would be the matter of literally 2-3 hours (at most) of work to change a website to reflect taxation in the price based on the user's locality. This is just stubbornness.
@@thetheory6159 retailers probably also think that by showcasing a price as lower than it actually is, people are more likely to buy. I'm not sure how true this idea is, but I am sure that the thought that it *might* be true is probably enough to cause the retailers to not want to change.
Seriously, the Penny Died in 1982 - When the Mint Stopped making Them with Real Copper.
The function of currency is facilitate trade, not to hold value. All metals have value because humans decide they do, not because they are inherently valuable, which makes them no different in this context.
It's always Illinois. It was Lincoln's home state and they protest strongly every time there is talk of abolishing the penny.
WHY IS GREY CHANGING ALL OF HIS THUMBNAILS
They get recommended again and it's refreshed in the algorithm. It gets suggested again. You can see for yourself it worked
You forgot to mention the Czech Republic that got rid of ALL of their lower denomination coins in 2008 for the exact reasons you listed.
They used to have 10-haler, 20-haler, and 50-haler coins, comically tiny and weirdly lightweight coins made of aluminum. Now the lowest denomination is 1 crown (worth ~4 US cents).
And with the bus fares being about 6 to 20 crowns it was, for a while, worth picking up even the lowest denomination of our coins
CGP Grey: Why Americans should get rid of the Penny.
Me, a Canadian: I'm 4 parallel universes ahead of you.
Well yes the time difference is almost 10 years, when the video was made Canada still used pennies and the fact that he made a video about Canada ditching the pennies about 4 months after this video.
Australians crying in the distance with 6 forms of coins
Penny*
if u cant spell penny u arent at all 4 parallel universes ahead
Me, being an australian
Why did he change the cover screen
We need a follow-up video called "Death to cash"
what, the tax isn't included in the price in the USA?
Diamond Cubez it doesn't have to be. Some stores post the whole price but most don't because then it looks cheaper than it is.
Diamond Cubez Every state has it's own sale's tax laws.
Diamond Cubez no, and things cost like $19.99 to make them look cheaper so the real price is tax on top of the advertised price which is always some ridiculous decimal
Diamond Cubez well one of the problems is the US can't just make a consistent sale tax and everywhere you go its different
Diamond Cubez And then for some reason gas always has tax included.
Although it could be time consuming if it wasn't, and it would make people more aware of the outrageous taxes they are paying just for the "privilege" of mobility.
"Have you seen of the half-cent coin?"
Yea my dad gave me one and i still have i-
"Of course you hadn't "
Okay guess I'll die
You’re not allowed to see one.
@@connorquick2650 Brian D is a threat that needs to be eliminated
Target eliminated.
@@waffles6280 HE'S SEEN TOO MUCH
If I could restructure our cash system in the United States, I would abolish both the penny and the nickel, keep the dime as the smallest unit of currency, include taxes in the price tag, round up the prices to the nearest ten cents, abolish the quarter in favor of a 50¢ coin, and abolish the $1 bill in favor of a $1 coin.
A one dollar coin would work so much better for vending machines. Single dollar bills get by far the most use, and therefore the most wear and tear, so a one dollar coin would be far more sturdy.
@@FoxyGekkerson Bush tried that, it didnt work because they are heavy and clunky and by a long shot slower than bills in ANY other transaction
They updated the image!
Penny didn't deserve this. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time. #RIP
Pyrrah is a monster
She's not half the girl she use to be. You can say she lost half her value ;)
+Oompa Loompa Aron Dang it! I can't get away from my dang dirty emotions even reading the comments of a CGP Grey video. Why do you hurt me like this?
PrimevalDragon She was a robot.
Oompa Loompa Aron Yes. A robot who also happened to have a soul. There's quite a difference.
PrimevalDragon Does she feel pain though?
Omg i think i’ve actually forgotten the fact that 2011 was 9 years ago
you posted this to early
@@Mr.TheCopperhead too*
Now its 10 😳
@@plazmaguy13yago9 yep
oh 2011 not 2029
10 YEARS AFTER THIS VIDEO WAS POSTED, IT CAME ON MY FYP
Bro fyp is tiktok shi
Here in Canada we got rid of pennies around 5 years ago
"...and a mystery coin that we'll get back to later."
Effective hook is effective
1:35-1:42 unless your MrBeast
It’s you’re but I still agree lol
Lol
(I subbed becauee it reminded me of that Friends episode)
My man
You’re*
Fun fact! 12 years later, the penny has still not been discontinued.
The thumbnails are different now
Fun fact: James public speaking teacher from his community college watched this video
@Youssef hatem yes
Who is James??
Whos James?
@@edohanma the odd one's out
@@edohanma the odd1s out, he mentioned this in his plagerism video
I'm seeing this in 2019. Pennies seem to be on permanent life support.
2020 here. By the time the video was made, here's the list of countries that discontinued their penny denomination (or closest relative) :
Belgium (2014), Italy (2018), Bahamas (2020), Canada (2012), Trinidad & Tobago (2018), Croatia (2012), Moldova (2017), Russia (2017), Ukraine (2018)
Some countries are starting to phase out 5 cents. The heck are you doing, 'merica?
@@noemiej.marquis732 listening to lobbyists
Here in Chile we retired the 1 and 5 peso coins, leaving 10 as the smallest denomination (worth 1.5 us pennies) about a year ago. I'd love to see the 10 peso go as well, Scandinavian countries do great with their one krone coin (worth about 10 cents)
Je te connais bto
no more penny in 2023
this dude has to be a time traveler
It bugs me that pennies are still being made but the 2 dollar bill has been essentially discontinued for decades.
I always carry them, but I have to ask for them at my bank.
Someone: * melts pennies *
USA Government: I smell pennies!!
How did this not have a comment yet with this many likes?
Pennies smell bad. Dont ask how I know
@@jimothy_2nd Fun fact: that's not the penny, that's your skin reacting to pennies.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
@@leechyfruit4464 cool thanks
This video makes so much cents.
I'm good at bad puns.
+luciewhale *BADUM TSS*
Your comment really changed my stance on puns.
:^)
+luciewhale Oh, why, my punnies are as bad as yours, and no one truly understands.
Gabriel Barreto
You are a Burrito master
Lo
I feel like the penny now has a bestie from the Ryan Trahan series
Am I going insane or did the logo change
It did change
We should let the US get rid of the penny bit only if they actually circulate 50¢ coins as widely as quarters
they circulate dollar coins! I every now and again ask for dollar coins from the teller and they LOOOOVE handing those out.
@@stagdragon3978 I bet you pay in $2 bills when you can too!
@@stagdragon3978 Eh, when I worked a cash register I was literally never paid with a dollar coin, but ok, I'm sure it's a common thing.
@@LegDayLas well that's the sad part, a lot of people don't realize that you can just get them from the bank teller. They're trying to put them into circulation but normally people don't ask for them or get confused when they're handed coins instead of bills.
@@stagdragon3978 Halves are still very much in circulation as well.
Some people in the south have a weird view of Lincoln, blaming him for the Civil War when he wasn't even in office when the first shots were fired (By the confederacy)
+Alex Shannon
That's not the only part of it... Many southerners were pissed off because Lincoln wasn't even on their ballot, but he still won.
Red Priest I think by that point they should just accept it. I'm Native American and I don't go around constantly complaining about Andrew Jackson. He died before my grandparents were born!
+Alex Shannon Well, when you consider the fact that Lincoln won the election without a single electoral vote from the South and therefore the South had effectively lost it's voice in the election, it's no surprised it left.
Elias Martinez Jr. The south attempted to commit election fraud by leaving him off of the ballot. It was THEIR fault they lost their voice.
Alex Shannon I'm not expert on the election, but I am 99% sure Southerners didn't take Lincoln off the ballot on purpose.
The year is 2100, the $100 dollar bill is now being removed from circulation due to it being redundant. The Zollar is the new unit of exchange.
2023 the penny will be gone
For those of you wondering, the sentence at 3:01 translates to "Thanks for not calling me Holland".
Dankjewel