Beat me to it!

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Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 9:24am PST - promote requested by Zifnab.

Somebody want to start a Moveon.org petition? I'll sign it.

america aint america without no pennies!!!!

Penny for yer thoughts?

I read the title all wrong. I crossed my legs instinctively.

I really can't remember the last time I used cash in a transaction, never mind coins.

EFTPOS FTW!

>> ^Issykitty:

Penny for yer thoughts?
Due to inflation even stupid thoughts are worth to much.
Maybe we'll have to start a campaign where everyone gathers up all their pennies and just dumps them at the front door of the Treasury Department, you'd think dump trucks lining up would get the message across.

Kill the penny and let's just use Abe on the next coin the U.S. mints in the distant future.

Five dollar bills will go away when they are worth a penny.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Should point out that you can still have cents for electronic transactions. I regularly pay $50.31 at the petrol bowser here in Oz for a fill-up.

At least the US has cheap gas. And not just from Taco Bell.

Forget about pennies. No one in this country, except for the morons in congress, want to use $1 coins.

I didn't realize that adding the tax at checkout was a distinctly American stupidity.

My family owned an ice cream parlor for 10 years when I was a kid/teen. From day one, we included taxes in our prices. A small cone was $1 and a large cone was $1.25. We did the math when it was time to pay our taxes. It made it easier for the customers and it made it easier for us when we were ringing them up.

@JiggaJonson: I'm one of those few who really likes the $1 coins, though I think it's more for their aesthetic quality than any sort of practicality. There's something far more satisfying about holding a coin. Oh, and they're shiny. Oooooh... shiny.

There's no mention in this video of why the penny hasn't been abolished. There must be some lobby or special interest that benefits from this and prevents the mint from doing anything about it. It can't be as simple as merely doing away with the coin.

So what can we personally do to encourage the removal of the penny? I would seriously be willing to make a reasonable ammount of effort to see this done with. Honestly though, the very thought of doing anything makes me immediately aware that I have no ability to influence this situation. And that realization is maddeningly disempowering. Knowing I can't affect something as simple and obvious as this makes me sickeningly aware of the fact that I have no power to influence the important problems in my society. Anyway, that's what I thought about while watching this video. Fuck the penny, but fuck me for having no input into the laws and decisions that affect my life.

You can get around the Coinstar machine fees by having the money put into a gift certificate. I go with Amazon.com ones as I buy stuff on Amazon all the time.

The penny is worth more to me in the form of mild discomfort from somebody I have just thrown it at.

>> ^Kofi:

I read the title all wrong. I crossed my legs instinctively.


Same here. It kind of bothers me that when I take titles the wrong "sexually-assumed" way, somehow
-every time- I'm the 69th vote.

He keeps making the argument that it takes 1.8 cents to fabricate a penny but fails to mention what it costs to fabricate a nickel, dime or quarter. Hint, no where near face value.

And also, the video claims the US gov fabricates 4 million pennies a year. That's nothing as far as a number, it's probably closer to 4 million a day than anything. Makes you wonder what other "facts" in this video are sketchy.

As someone moving to America in the immediate future, I highly endorse this. One of the smartest things our country did was to remove the 1 and 2 cent coins

>> ^ChuckBlack:

And also, the video claims the US gov fabricates 4 million pennies a year. That's nothing as far as a number, it's probably closer to 4 million a day than anything. Makes you wonder what other "facts" in this video are sketchy.


Yep. According to Wikipedia, the US mint made four billion pennies last year, not million.

In New Zealand we no longer have anything below 10 cent coins.

>> ^TheFreak:

There's no mention in this video of why the penny hasn't been abolished. There must be some lobby or special interest that benefits from this and prevents the mint from doing anything about it. It can't be as simple as merely doing away with the coin.

Actually there is a mention, when he said that pennies today are produced with 95% Zinc.

You guessed it. The Zinc producers of America are the principle force lobbying congress to continue to produce pennies. They even have a website: http://www.pennies.org/

That's right there is a lobby. They spend about $200,000 per year but typically less than that. They sure get their money's worth! It's not the mint but a factory in Greeneville, TN that makes the penny blanks. This factory generates pure profits of $1,000,000 per month but typically more. It is owned by a shadowy NY financial institution and protected by the steel worker's union for good measure. Fact: the penny is here to stay. Forever.

>> ^TheFreak:

There's no mention in this video of why the penny hasn't been abolished. There must be some lobby or special interest that benefits from this and prevents the mint from doing anything about it. It can't be as simple as merely doing away with the coin.
So what can we personally do to encourage the removal of the penny? I would seriously be willing to make a reasonable ammount of effort to see this done with. Honestly though, the very thought of doing anything makes me immediately aware that I have no ability to influence this situation. And that realization is maddeningly disempowering. Knowing I can't affect something as simple and obvious as this makes me sickeningly aware of the fact that I have no power to influence the important problems in my society. Anyway, that's what I thought about while watching this video. Fuck the penny, but fuck me for having no input into the laws and decisions that affect my life.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

I didn't realize that adding the tax at checkout was a distinctly American stupidity.
My family owned an ice cream parlor for 10 years when I was a kid/teen. From day one, we included taxes in our prices. A small cone was $1 and a large cone was $1.25. We did the math when it was time to pay our taxes. It made it easier for the customers and it made it easier for us when we were ringing them up.



I believe that is illegal in the states. Small businesses can get away with it, though.

>> ^MaxWilder:

>> ^xxovercastxx:
I didn't realize that adding the tax at checkout was a distinctly American stupidity.
My family owned an ice cream parlor for 10 years when I was a kid/teen. From day one, we included taxes in our prices. A small cone was $1 and a large cone was $1.25. We did the math when it was time to pay our taxes. It made it easier for the customers and it made it easier for us when we were ringing them up.


I believe that is illegal in the states. Small businesses can get away with it, though.


I just checked the NY sales tax advertising laws (http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/sales/pub34_899.pdf) and it seems to be ok to me. You're not allowed to do anything that suggests the tax isn't charged/paid, but we weren't. The price list said that all taxes were included in the listed prices.

Maybe it's different in other states.

>> ^oohahh:

Credit unions and banks will also change your change because that's their job.>> ^hamsteralliance:
You can get around the Coinstar machine fees by having the money put into a gift certificate. I go with Amazon.com ones as I buy stuff on Amazon all the time.



Or you could always hit up the First Citywide Change Bank.

*relatedto=http://videosift.com/video/Last-Week-Tonight-with-John-Oliver-Pennies

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Last-Week-Tonight-with-John-Oliver-Pennies

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Pennies has been added as a related post - related requested by ant.