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Comment by talkingtab | Hacker News Reader

I work at a convenience store. We have a penny jar. Except about four months ago people starting leaving dimes, nickels and quarters. It was not a gradual change, people hardly ever left more than pennies. And it is not just one or two people.

My take is that nothing less than a dollar bill is worth much anymore. Part of this is could be the issue of cash vs card, but my uneven sample says that ratio is not really changing.

And what can you buy for $0.25? Nothing. $0.50? Nothing. Not a cheap drink, not a cup of coffee. For a dollar? Still nothing.

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The US used to have a half penny but it was eliminated when it had more purchasing power than a modern dime. There’s been talk of getting rid of the penny my entire adult life, but we don’t really seem to make improvements anymore, so I imagine it will remain.

My long-held theory on this is that low denomination currency acts as a slight break on inflation.

I believe the (plausible) conspiracy theory is that the zinc industry lobbies to keep them going. Somewhat ironically, it's long cost more than one penny to make a penny. I believe 1982 was the last year they were made entirely from copper, but eventually even the cost of zinc (often known as "pot metal") outpaced the value of the penny.

The US seems to have entered a stasis of coinage (and bill) denomination since before I was born (a long time ago). Besides getting rid of the penny, pretty much every attempt to introduce new currency (like $1 coins) have failed. And I wouldn't count on being able to use anything bigger than a $20 bill at a random location.

And, at this point, cash use is in sufficient decline that I can't imagine any serious effort to make changes.

Canada no longer has pennies. Canadians now seem a little surprised that we still have them. Comically, US banks accept Canadian pennies so people are using them up as much as possible.

Really, that's a real shame if it is. I havent been back the US since late 2014. I remember walking around Manhattan near Times Square I think, just exploring and seen so many signs for $1 slice of Pizza, I think it tad more with some sales tax thing applied when I had one, another breakfast time I got bagel with cream cheese from one of the vans I think near one of the big banks near wall street I think $1.50-$2.00. I was staying in a top-end hotel courtesy of a company I was interviewing with but unsure of expense policy I just got the food around and about myself and found it extremely cheap if you were a little careful. How much has this changed? My memory of facts could be a little off, but I always had US down for cheap plates of mountains of food, and takeaways that were next to nothing price wise.

It didn't really got more expensive because salaries have increased as well. Maybe for a tourist coming from a country that hasn't seen that much inflation (Japan?)

There are still plenty of $1 slices in NYC. Same with $1 coffee and inexpensive bagels.

This is not true in my experience. Every pizza spot is at least up to $1.50 a slice. I have only lived here 2 years, but I never see a $1 coffee.

  https://www.today.com/food/news/nycs-2-bros-dollar-pizza-slices-rcna77180
  https://citylimits.org/2022/07/28/how-much-does-a-bagel-cost-in-your-nyc-neighborhood/

Here’s a map of 99 cent pizza places:

https://www.seriouseats.com/where-to-get-99-cent-slices-2-br...

I believe all McDonald’s have 99 cent coffee but I’m not sure.

This is a list from 2018

I'm almost surprised that many people carry coins any longer. I have a few bills in my mini-wallet but any coins I end up with get tossed in the coin bucket at home to maybe get redeemed someday. Even quarters aren't generally useful for tolls or parking meters any longer.

I too have noticed more silver in the penny tray lately. The other day it had to be close to $1 total including the 20 some odd pennies sitting there.

There is a coffee shop in SE Alaska that was still selling $0.50 coffee as of Aug 2023. God bless their hearts. -- total anecdote, your point is overwhelmingly true.

Over the past ~20+ years, the milk tea at NYC Chinese bakeries has gone from $1 to $1.10 to $1.25 to now $1.40.

That's still a good price. I found a similar thing in Spain for the staple drink of coffee was e1-e1.50 everywhere you went in the Valencia region, didn't matter if high-so or not, arty farty restaurant or workmans cafe, if you wanted a black coffee with a little biscuit on the side it would be under $2 anywhere you went.

Do you all still hand out pennies? I found that pennies were effectively killed off in the COVID coin shortages. I've noticed that some smaller places don't hand out coin change at all.

Have you tried taking the non-pennies out to see if having a seed changes behavior?

Yes, I often take the non-pennies out. Not for that reason, but because when someone comes in and doesn't have enough to pay for something basic - like milk, I can use some of the two or three dollars in quarters, dimes and nickels to make up the difference.

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