Executive Order to stop minting cents

I just heard on the news this morning that a nickel cost 12 cents to make that's worse than the cent

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NO!

This is a lie from the zinc industry. Every transaction still has a 50% probability of requiring a nickel. Nothing has changed.

Production of 5c pieces might increase a little because some pennies are used for things other than the economy and the nickel can fulfill some of these roles.

The nickel's days are numbered anyway. Soon enough it will be made smaller and of a less expensive material. Many of the nickels made until that day will be recovered by the FED.

I should hope they change the nickel to copper, steel, or aluminum but as long as lobbyists are passing out goodies it might not.

 

You have to have paid even minor attention to 2nd-grade math to be able to figure that out.

 

It's worse than you realize. The law allows the Secretary of the Treasury to alter the composition of the cent - that's how we got the ZLincolns - but there is no provision for minting a 5-cent coin other than the current statutory 5g Copper-Nickel composition.

 

In 2023 4.1 billion cents were minted.

 

Yeah, I can imagine the conversation there: "Didn't you send the check?" "I thought you were sending the check this year!"

 

Laws can be changed. It would have to go through Congress to alter the composition or size of the nickel, but it's been done before and can be done again.

 

Be careful of this 'accurate accounting' you so wish for. That's a big broad brush you're painting with.

 

I don't know what that means.

 

LOL......if you want to see some creative accounting reporting for earnings, check any financials from any major listed stock on the exchanges. GAAP accounting means nothing to them, or the SEC. (I should add, I held a CPA license for years, deactivated it in 2024).

 

Regardless of the accounting, it is economically stupid to produce a coin that costs more to make than its face value.

 

There's no reason this means we would have to mint more nickels, and they wouldn't be needed in change more than they're needed now. Evidence: when Canada eliminated their cent, they did not need to mint any more 5 cent pieces to make up the difference. We wouldn't either. The most nickels you'd need in any transaction is one, they wouldn't be needed any more often than we need them now, would only need them for cash transactions which we're doing less and less often; there is no evidence they would be needed more. And even if we did, legislation could be passed to make them out of less and/or cheaper material. None of these are reasons not to stop minting the penny.

 

Correct. Dropping a coin of the cent's purchasing power from production has proven to be no big deal for many countries.

The nickel could be made cheaper by changing its composition, but that would have to be coordinated with the vending industry which needs to be able to tell the difference between a US and Canadian nickel, the mint to source materials and test production, and Congress to authorize the change in the composition. Not low-hanging fruit when compared to stopping production of the cent.

The cost of producing the cent is more than just raw materials, however. It includes the cost of labor, transportation, and running the mint. Not all of those costs are simply eliminated by eliminating the cent. You can't suddenly make the mint building smaller and less expensive to maintain. Some of the skilled labor is allocated to more than just cent production. As a result, the cost of the other denominations goes up. Downsizing could reduce the cost a bit, but costs are subject to inflation, while face value isn't, so in the long term, it will be a losing battle.

One thing not included in the cost to make the cent is the cost to the economy of handling it once it's been transported out of the Treasury Department's cost centers. This includes everything from banks shipping coins to stores handling them to car washes unjamming equipment that got a penny stuck in it. I really don't know what this comes out to per coin produced, but it's a cost to the economy that would disappear as cents disappeared from circulation.

 

Of course, all these tasks also create jobs...

 

Why would anyone need to be concerned about discontinuation of money, when we already as a nation, I believe, spend more than we mint!

I'm more concerned about affordability of Egg-McMuffins, so I purchased a
dozen this morning!

Was there ever general concern when we discontinued a monetary item?

It's believed only small minds should be concerned about the demise of our most common monetary denomination.

We probably should be concerned about inadequate availability of the largest denominations!

I hope you "figure it out"!

I believe the majority have decided what will be done!

JMHO

 

The don't create jobs as much as they are jobs. At what point to they become make-work jobs?

 

I wasn't a member here back in 2020. Can anyone explain to me why there was a coin change shortage during that period? I never got that. Still don't. ??

 

Like unionized horse carriage workers?

 

Make work Jobs. I thought that was to get rid of taxes.

 

Everybody was scared of covid nobody wanted to touch the change too scared to catch covid