Posted by ranck on December 1, 2006, 5:16 pm
> (ranck@vt.edu) writes:
> >
> >> > and also if there is anything we can do to speed up its retirement.
> >
> >> Just stop making them and stop them being legal tender.
> >
> > As far as I am aware, any and all coins ever minted by the US
> > mint are still legal tender. You can turn them in at the bank
> > and have your half-cents credited to your account. Of course
> > those have been out of circulation so long that they are
> > worth more as collectibles than as legal tender.
> >
> It doesn't have to go so far as taking them off the "legal tender
> list".
> You just stop making them, and invoke a policy that when they get
> to the bank (or perhaps some higher up level), they get physically
> withdrawn, so relatively soon after, very few are in circulation.
That was my point. The US has removed "Silver Certificates" from
circulation, they are still legal tender, but as soon as a bank
gets hold of one they get returned to the Federal Reserve. There
used to be US 1/2 cent pieces minted back in the 19th Century, but
no one has used them in general circulation for 100 years or so even
though technically they are still legal tender. Silver Certificates
probably still show up from time to time because they were in use
up into the 1960s and the replacement bills of the same denomination
are still used. There is no commercial use for a 1/2 cent piece
any more, except as a collectible.
Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.
Posted by Rod Speed on December 1, 2006, 10:47 pm
ranck@vt.edu wrote
>>> and also if there is anything we can do to speed up its retirement.
>> Just stop making them and stop them being legal tender.
> As far as I am aware, any and all coins ever
> minted by the US mint are still legal tender.
Yes, but that is one obvious way of doing what she asked
about, stop that to speed up the demise of the penny.
> You can turn them in at the bank and have
> your half-cents credited to your account.
It would obviously be possible to do that with pennys now too.
> Of course those have been out of circulation so long that
> they are worth more as collectibles than as legal tender.
Didnt happen in any of the countrys where they chose to stop using 1c
and 2c coins. Essentially because there are hordes of them in circulation.
I doubt they will ever be worth more than they are as legal tender but I do
have quite a few of them just because I am too lazy to bother with them.
> I don't recall if this is part of the Mint's enabling legislation
> or just policy from 200 years ago, but they have certainly
> stopped making coins in the past which remained, and still
> remain, legal tender. People did quit using them anyway.
Sure, but it would obviously speed up the demise
of the penny if it was no longer legal tender and
you could only turn them into the bank in bulk etc.
Posted by Dennis on December 4, 2006, 6:29 pm
On 4 Dec 2006 13:29:33 -0800, allaboutchemistry@hotmail.com wrote:
>Why wait for anything official to happen? Why not choose to opt out
>now?
>For example, when anyone tries to give you a penny, just say "Keep the
>change." Refuse to take pennies.
>If anyone (such as a store clerk) insists on giving you pennies, just
>leave the pennies on the counter, a ledge, a chair, or somewhere where
>somebody who wants the pennies can find them.
>If you've got any pennies now, put them all in the next charity box or
>collection plate you see. Just start moving your pennies into others'
>hands and out of your life.
>Or give them to kids. Or you could just throw them away, although I
>wouldn't do that.
>As I see it, if you don't want to participate in the penny system, you
>don't have to.
That's pretty much what I do now. I make good use of the "Take a
penny, Leave a penny" dishes many places have near their registers.
Dennis (evil)
--
The honest man is the one who realizes that he cannot
consume more, in his lifetime, than he produces.
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> >
> >> > and also if there is anything we can do to speed up its retirement.
> >
> >> Just stop making them and stop them being legal tender.
> >
> > As far as I am aware, any and all coins ever minted by the US
> > mint are still legal tender. You can turn them in at the bank
> > and have your half-cents credited to your account. Of course
> > those have been out of circulation so long that they are
> > worth more as collectibles than as legal tender.
> >
> It doesn't have to go so far as taking them off the "legal tender
> list".
> You just stop making them, and invoke a policy that when they get
> to the bank (or perhaps some higher up level), they get physically
> withdrawn, so relatively soon after, very few are in circulation.