10 Comments
User's avatar
Paul Kwiecinski's avatar

Perhaps encourage more use of coins by dropping the dollar bill and using a dollar coin. A dollar bill only lasts about 7 years anyway. Or maybe create a special event / day nationwide for people to turn in coins.

Expand full comment
Jadrian Wooten's avatar

I've always been a big fan of the dollar coin! I'd support that move entirely.

Expand full comment
JD Champagne's avatar

The obvious solution would be to make the penny worth one penny's worth of metal. And the nickel would be worth one nickel's worth. And so on. We could have a whole monetary system based on the value of some type of metal -- hey, wait a minute!

Fun fact: the largest amount of US coinage you can have without being able to make exact change for a dollar is $1.19

Expand full comment
Jadrian Wooten's avatar

Hey, wait a minute! That's a bad idea! ;)

Expand full comment
JD Champagne's avatar

Indeed. Not as bad of one as fiat, I don't think, but that's a low bar to clear.

Expand full comment
Eliana Grosof's avatar

Ok, so what if we only did dimes? Does a dime cost more to produce than it's worth?

Expand full comment
Peg's avatar

Perhaps including more details of Canada’s elimination of the penny would offer balanced reporting. Their penny was eliminated in 2012, giving 13 years of experience in its impact. According to reports, it had no impact on consumers and business owners and no losses in the production of their other coins. It’s worth a try to help cut US spending. There is nothing stopping us from reinstating it if studies show it’s not helping.

Expand full comment
James B's avatar

Loosing cost savings is silly at best, dishonest at worst.

Based on data from 2020-2022, The Mint should gain at least 8 Million in Revenue from nixing the Penny, on top of saving the $270 Million previously used to produce them.

This is primarily because of the uptick in usage Dimes and Quarters would see as a result.

In addition, fewer Nickels would need to be minted because production would only marginally increase as they are worth 5x of a Penny. The cost would also not be as impactful because it only cost 2.76x itself to produce whereas the penny cost 3.7x itself.

Currently, in cash transaction coins are used in the following dispersion to make change:

Penny 43%, Nickel 9%, Dime 17%, Quarter 32%

Without the Penny, this changes to:

Nickel 16%, Dime 29%, Quarter 55%

Ultimately it would cost about $21 Million for the increase in Nickels, while additional Revenues would be about $9 Million from Dimes and $20 Million from Quarters.

Expand full comment
slimethemout's avatar

onb ts hard twin

Expand full comment
Jessenia Rodriguez's avatar

I wonder if a penny could be revalued or converted to be worth the same as a nickel. Therefore, there would not be losses because of the cost of production.

Expand full comment