Closed petition Abolish the Penny

Closed on 12 November 2014

We should cease minting one and two pence pieces and remove them from circulation. It costs more than one penny to mint a one pence piece, and they fail in the primary task of money, which is to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. The value of the penny is simply too small, meaning it cannot reasonably be made for currency exchange. When the half penny was abolished in 1984, it was worth less than the current value of a penny, and yet the penny remains in circulation.
Other nations such as Canada and New Zealand have already abolished the penny (instead rounding to the nearest 5 pence), and have seen no drop in charitable donations, one of the fears critics of fiscal reform have highlighted.