If not for the superstition that picking up a penny conveys good
luck, any such coin dropped on the sidewalk would stay there
until it was swept away along with other debris. Adages
involving the penny date back to when the coin was more than
just a nuisance. A "penny for your thoughts" was never a highly
lucrative offer, but it wasn't an insult. The penny arcade was a
place where brief entertainment could be purchased for one cent
and penny candy referred to a variety of sweets sold one for a
cent, or in some cases, two or three for a cent. The term "penny
stocks" always was an exaggeration of the cheapness of certain
stock offerings. We can't think of anything that is available
for a penny these days and it is long past time to phase out the
coin as a nuisance. An argument could be made to phase out the
nickel but that would not be practical without phasing out
quarters. To have a system of allowing pricing in increments of
10 cents or 25 cents but not 5 cents would be confusing, and to
eliminate the quarte