Pennies in the news (again)

[Blackfoot58]

I see where the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is looking to eliminate the penny. It costs roughly 3 cents to make a 1 cent coin. Zinc costs have risen, just like everything else.
This could be a step toward eliminating cash & coins. With strictly electronic payment transactions the problem can be solved. The alternate recourse would be a “rounding system”: 13, 23, 33, etc cents pay 2 cents more (15,25,35,etc.) lesser amounts would round down (-2 cents).
I’d guess the electronic solution would have more gvt support.

 

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[djackson7348]

I worry about electronic coin. How can I trust anything that I can't hold and someone else can flip a switch and make it disappear?

 

[unclemac]

Canada got rid of the penny in 2012... nor harm, no foul.

 

[dognose]

An option is to make the penny smaller in diameter, could be?
are the costs of 3 cents to make a 1 cent coin solely material here or are all cost included?

 

[Blackfoot58]

An option is to make the penny smaller in diameter, could be?
are the costs of 3 cents to make a 1 cent coin solely material here or are all cost included?

The story I saw said that was the total cost for materials. There would still be die cost, labor, machining cost, etc.

 

[beepbleep]

I was reading the nickel is costing us about eleven cents each to produce.

 

[Blackfoot58]

I was reading the nickel is costing us about eleven cents each to produce.

Not surprising. It seems like a 6 cent differential, but if you figure in years of inflation it’s closer to a 10 and one-half cent difference.

 

[jrf30]

An option is to make the penny smaller in diameter, could be?
are the costs of 3 cents to make a 1 cent coin solely material here or are all cost included?

Material is less than a penny. As of today, it is 74% of a penny. The rest is labor, machines, shipping, etc

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]$0.0074457

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]74.45%[/FONT]

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[cudamark]

Eliminate the zinc cent and the dollar bill, produce both a $1 and $2 coin made of 90% silver. Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming....

 

[jeff of pa]

simple solution imo , make pennies the size of silver 3cent pieces

nickels the size of dimes

dimes the size of nickels

 

[robertk]

Eliminate the zinc cent and the dollar bill, produce both a $1 and $2 coin made of 90% silver. Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming....

If they made a silver coin worth a dollar at today's prices, it would be a bit smaller than a dime. That would just emphasize how little the dollar is worth.

 

[blauer]

I'm thinking that most of the points made here, as well as the coming Pennypocalypse (Pennyocalyse, Centageddon) could be made moot by ... get ready ... here is comes... the self-proclaimed masters-of-mandkind aren't going to like this ... I may be blacked-bagged for it:

ELIMNATING THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM OF FIAT MONEY

 

[cudamark]

If they made a silver coin worth a dollar at today's prices, it would be a bit smaller than a dime. That would just emphasize how little the dollar is worth.

Make whatever size is economically proper. Make the nickel out of real copper....there again whatever size is needed. The smaller, the better for us detectorists without a dollar bill, people might not make the connection as to worth. They sure don't seem to do so now anyway....