Thread: Where are all the circulating coins made in the last 30-40 years ?

Modern coins basically don't wear out ( maybe Zincolns corrode away). I've never seen a really worn out Jefferson nickel) copper-clad coins are Tough, they wear a lot better than silver.

I'm estimating that they coined at least 5 billion Zinc cents annually since 1982, call it 150 BILLION coins....where are they ? Their can't be that many in coin collections. I can see the copper and wheats being under 1% of circulating pennies

Nickels don't wear out ( at least not easily) so I think basically every one made in the last 50 years should be still circulating....if it isn't Unc it ain't worth more than melt How many nickels made since 1962....I'll guess 50 BILLION. Billions and Billions of dimes and quarters

All clad coins should still be here, I've never seen one that looked like an AG Barber dime.

Do these coins ever get retired by the mint as too worn ? I can't see that accounting for much of the apparent loss of coins. Nothing above is really melt material yet.

Does everybody have like multiple 5 gallon jugs full of coins ? Do these coins just get lost ?

I can't understand what happens to these billions of coins that should easily last 50 years in circulation, unless they become meltable for profit in theory ( copper cents) or a major design change causes hoarding ( lincoln memorial vs. Wheats).

I want to know where all these coins went to ! I know pennies get thrown away like trash. I trash 5 cent deposit cans/ bottles....way too much hassle.

I am guilty of the multiple 5 gallon bottles hording of coins. About every ten years or so I cash them in. My bank tellers hate me when I do this, but I take a nice vacation on the proceeds. Last time I did it, I took a cruise to Alaska. One of my best friends just bought a new car with his change. Apparently he had been saving it for nearly twenty five years.

The real reason is that our money is worth so much less than it once was. People don't use their change, so the government must produce coinage in insane numbers to keep the banks supplied. We see plenty of high grade coins because they have not circulated very long and they will not. Eventually, they will end up in the old piggy bank.

I don't think too many people save up their change until they have enough to buy a new car, or a cruise....well maybe the vacation !

I can kind of see having two barrels, one for pennies and one for real coins and perhaps accumulating literally bags of pennies, but not so much with "silver". Too many people are broke these days, so not many will sit on $1,000 in nickels, dimes, quarters, etc.

I try to spend the "silver" but the "copper" is a hassle, that's why I'd love to see the cent axed and go to rounding.

Well, there are over 4 million retail businesses in the US, many of those have a lot more than one location. Each has at least one cash drawer, most have more than one, and all have coin.<br>Imagine Mcd's alone, 8 cash drawers and lots in the safe to bring out. I'm guessing here, but they could easily have over 10,000 coins on hand at any one time just for daily business. coin laundries, arcades,&nbsp; others probably have at least 10 times that. There's coin counting machines in the markets, vending machines, public transportation ...<br>There are over 7000 banks and S and L and other financial institutions with huge amounts of change (LOTS of boxes) could easily average half a million coins each. 7,000 x 500,000 = 3,500,000,000 just sitting in banks on any given day.<br>and there are over 300,000 people in the US, almost all of whom have a hand full of change in a pocket, purse, car, and many of whom have a bucket or jar or bowl full. Statistically the average person handles $800 in spare change per year.<br>it adds up.<br>And the population grows every year, that means more banks, stores, and everything else every year. cha ching<br>and of course there ARE those COLLECTORS!! <br>

Originally Posted by softmentor

Well, there are over 4 million retail businesses in the US, many of those have a lot more than one location. Each has at least one cash drawer, most have more than one, and all have coin.<br>Imagine Mcd's alone, 8 cash drawers and lots in the safe to bring out. I'm guessing here, but they could easily have over 10,000 coins on hand at any one time just for daily business. coin laundries, arcades,* others probably have at least 10 times that. There's coin counting machines in the markets, vending machines, public transportation ...<br>There are over 7000 banks and S and L and other financial institutions with huge amounts of change (LOTS of boxes) could easily average half a million coins each. 7,000 x 500,000 = 3,500,000,000 just sitting in banks on any given day.<br>and there are over 300,000 people in the US, almost all of whom have a hand full of change in a pocket, purse, car, and many of whom have a bucket or jar or bowl full. Statistically the average person handles $800 in spare change per year.<br>it adds up.<br>And the population grows every year, that means more banks, stores, and everything else every year. cha ching<br>and of course there ARE those COLLECTORS!! <br>

I respect your opinion, but we are talking about nearly 30 years of cents and almost 50 years of copper-nickel stuff to draw from.

I say argue that current coins like a nickel easily last 50 years....show me a Jeffy that looks like an AG v-nick.

After awhile the Laundromat quarters kind of stay there, I'm sure the change machines are replenished via the washers and dryers, maybe a bit of quarter leakage as excess Q's leave, not huge.

It's clear to me that pennies are simply trashed by many, esp. teens. I won't bend my fat (__*__) over to pick up a penny.

Population/ business growth is not huge so I reject the concept of businesses holding the coinage !

Where are the 1965- 1985 nickels, dimes, Q's ?

They should be really common....

Mid 60's clad stuff had huge mintages

1964 nickels were enormous, still around, but less common.

The US mint should encourage and love coin collectors ( like the RCM), but not penny and nickel hoarders !

Originally Posted by Doug21

1964 nickels were enormous, still around, but less common.

I get 1964 nickels in change all the time.
Older clad coins (pre-1980) don't seem to show up as much. Don't know where they are going though.

They are under the passenger seat of my car.

I think they may be in the global market. US currency is even used in some countries as their own. As an example, they say that most of all $100 bills are not circulated in the US. I would think that this has possibly taken a good chunk of change out of the US as well. Remember, the gobal market as we know it, didn't exist like it does now; 25 years ago.

Originally Posted by Doug21

Modern coins basically don't wear out ( maybe Zincolns corrode away). I've never seen a really worn out Jefferson nickel) copper-clad coins are Tough, they wear a lot better than silver.

I'm estimating that they coined at least 5 billion Zinc cents annually since 1982, call it 150 BILLION coins....where are they ? Their can't be that many in coin collections. I can see the copper and wheats being under 1% of circulating pennies

Nickels don't wear out ( at least not easily) so I think basically every one made in the last 50 years should be still circulating....if it isn't Unc it ain't worth more than melt How many nickels made since 1962....I'll guess 50 BILLION. Billions and Billions of dimes and quarters

All clad coins should still be here, I've never seen one that looked like an AG Barber dime.

Do these coins ever get retired by the mint as too worn ? I can't see that accounting for much of the apparent loss of coins. Nothing above is really melt material yet.

Does everybody have like multiple 5 gallon jugs full of coins ? Do these coins just get lost ?

I can't understand what happens to these billions of coins that should easily last 50 years in circulation, unless they become meltable for profit in theory ( copper cents) or a major design change causes hoarding ( lincoln memorial vs. Wheats).

I want to know where all these coins went to ! I know pennies get thrown away like trash. I trash 5 cent deposit cans/ bottles....way too much hassle.

They're circulating

If I understand your point, this should make the question and the problem worse

http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/coinfac...edstates_3.asp

There is approximately $8 billion worth of coins circulating in the US today. The U.S. Mint produces nearly 30 billion coins for general circulation each year (28 billion in 2000 and 21 billion in 2001)

This would seem to say that there is more minted every year than is in circulation! Where did it go?

The story form 2009 I think tells the story. When the economy got tough in 08, people started spending (putting back into circulation) so much coin, that the mint in 09 stopped minting very early. People have coins piled up. In their cars, in their pocket, but especially at home. Big jars, cans, hoards of the stuff.

Collectors too, keep lot of it. Take this story for example
When the Sacajawea dollar coin was launched in 2000, a half billion coins were issued within 14 weeks of the first ones rolling off the mint presses. It took the Susan B. Anthony dollar 14 years to reach that much circulation. The "Sackie," with its golden patina, was hoarded by collectors at an average rate of 13 coins per person in the United States when it was first issued.

Also remember the 1965, 66, and 67 coins did not have mint marks? This was because the government didn't want collectors takeing a lot of coin out of circulation while they were rebuilding circulation quantities after the 1964 silver grab.

Hording, or holding onto a bunch of coins is common. All that coin is siting on the dresser and in a can at you neighbors house. Every once in a while someone returns it to circulation which would explain why there are still older dates to be found and why the wear and rub has not been more that it has.

I recall reading someplace that an estimated 15% of the cents are damaged beyond use every year ? This is when I was trying to learn why there were not millions and millions of the 1988 D RDV006 and 1992 & 92 D CAM's. I do know that it's not uncommon to see a cent on the ground. They aren't worth toting around to a lot of people. And through roll searching, I've seen a ton of rotted Zincolns. Once that deterioration starts, it goes quickly. I believe in damper climates those cents die more quickly than we realize. Go figure ?

I just damaged 15-20 cents this week for my son. He likes the elongated cents you can create at theme parks. At this point I will support any type of coin collecting he wants to do. I would like to pick up some older ones to widen his interest but haven't found and nice ones in local shops.

You would be surprised how few coins being tossed aside into drawers, jars etc or just lost it takes to remove ALL of the coins from circulation. The population of the US is roughly 300,000,000 people. If you assume there is an average of four people per household that is 75,000,000 households. Now if each of those households on average tosses a SINGLE coin into a jar, or loses it, or destroys it on average each WEEK what does that do? Would you believe that will remove 3.9 BILLION coins from circulation per year. Now think about this, is that figure of one coin per week really a reasonable estimate? Or is it probably VERY low? One coin per household works out to one coin per person per month. The entire annual output of the mint only amounts to about 15 coins or so per person per year. At that rate it doesn't take much tossing aside of coins to remove the entire annual production from circulation.

Originally Posted by Conder101

You would be surprised how few coins being tossed aside into drawers, jars etc or just lost it takes to remove ALL of the coins from circulation. The population of the US is roughly 300,000,000 people. If you assume there is an average of four people per household that is 75,000,000 households. Now if each of those households on average tosses a SINGLE coin into a jar, or loses it, or destroys it on average each WEEK what does that do? Would you believe that will remove 3.9 BILLION coins from circulation per year. Now think about this, is that figure of one coin per week really a reasonable estimate? Or is it probably VERY low? One coin per household works out to one coin per person per month. The entire annual output of the mint only amounts to about 15 coins or so per person per year. At that rate it doesn't take much tossing aside of coins to remove the entire annual production from circulation.

And then you have the people like me that never return a single coin to circulation. I think you've hit the nail on the head with your post.

Originally Posted by Phil Ham

And then you have the people like me that never return a single coin to circulation. I think you've hit the nail on the head with your post.

And if the stat I quoted above is correct, then you, and others like you, are putting $800 of coin out of circulation every year.
As for me, I have put 2 1/2 boxes of 1c, and 1 1/2 boxes of nicks, 10 rolls of dimes, 5 rolls of quarters and 2 rolls of small dollars, out of circulation this year so far. Probably will do another 2 boxes of nicks at least before the years end.