# Time for the penny to retire?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-the-penny-to-retire/301937>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 1, 2005, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-the-penny-to-retire/301937 "2005-05-01T07:24:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-the-penny-to-retire/301937/42 "2011-07-15T14:44:59Z")

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> [@syncrolecyne](#):
>
> How about a 10:1 conversion? Coin/print a new set of currency where ten new dollars equal an old dollar? We will still have a one cent coin, but it will have a bit of value. Also, ten dollar bills will become the largest denomination of printed currency.
> 
> This will essentially be the value the currency had in the first half of the twentieth century.Many other countries have made similar adjustments for inflated currencies.

That’s called “rebasing” and it needn’t be done for every currency out there. You can just declare “every penny in circulation is now worth a nickel.” It doesn’t change the price of anything, as your total at the till can still be $4.34, but you’d have to pay a total of 4.35 and every time you hand over that rust-colored Lincoln coin, it counts as .05.

There’s no need for “old dollars” and “new dollars”.

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