> It's a complete waste of money and time continuing to mint such low-value currency. It can't be used for just about anything.

The problem: the dollar is almost global in its usage. The penny may not be important to the US, but it dam well is every where else where dollars are still in use frequently, along side, or in place of the local/native currency.

Getting rid of the penny will have implications, getting rid of more coins would endanger the use of the dollar globally.

There is still a large portion of the world where 100 dollar bill and a Rolex will get you home safely.

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diogocp 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Approximately nobody uses US coins outside the US. Even in countries where the dollar is widely accepted, trying to use coins will get you weird looks at best.

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Symbiote 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Countries like Ecuador that use US dollars mint their own coins for local circulation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuadorian_centavo_coins

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tiagod 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

As far as I am aware, USD is used for larger amounts in such countries. Smaller purchases are made in the local currency.

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Night_Thastus 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In what part of the world do they use US pennies?

The US currency system sure. But pennies, specifically?

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zahlman 11 hours ago | parent [-]

Before Canada stopped using its penny, it was common to find American pennies in circulation.

It's still fairly common to find American nickels, quarters and dimes in circulation. (Probably mostly dimes if I had to guess.) They're generally accepted at par because nobody is even really looking at them and if they did it wouldn't really represent being, well, short-changed.

	▲	whycome 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I’ve found that self-checkouts in Canada are a great way to get rid of piles of change. You can pretty much dump it in. Curiously, it will reject all the US coins and spit them back out.

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zdragnar 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There are also plenty of places where flashing a 100 dollar bill and a Rolex will ensure you don't get home at all.

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dpark 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> The penny may not be important to the US, but it dam well is every where else where dollars are still in use frequently

[citation needed]