Ditching the "penny"

Interesting article

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/business/costs-of-pennies-and-nickels/index.html

 

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Now that is interesting. We have known for a long time the cent was a loser. I had no idea that the nickel was a loser as well.

 

Could they make the cents out of cheaper metals? IDK, is steel cheaper? What about aluminin? I mean alunimum?

 

Must be hard to say with that big tongue...

 

It's a challenge, lol. At any rate...

 

If we ditched both the cent and nickel to save money then the quarter would be an odd denomination. The ideal solution would be to have every denomination in multiples of ten; 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent.

 

Ever several years the Treasury goes through an exercise of "Alternative metals" for their coins. I'll have rummage up the document but they've go through different metals, their exposure to the environment, changes to systems (like vending machines) that identify coinage, changes to dies, stamping issues, recycling the initial web scrap (round disc from the sheet metal) etc. There are other external systems that deal with coinage that would all have to be changed to accept a new base material for coins.

edit: I think this is the latest report
2022 Biennial Report to Congress as Required by the Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-302)

 

You mean (Al you min e um)?

 

Hmmmm...what a great idea...

 

I think it's aluminium

 

uh loo lee um

 

Back in my Great Great grandparent's day it as called "Tin foil".

 

The quarter always offset the costs, from what I remember, but I figured it was a matter of time before we got rid of the penny once and for all.

 

Just like platinium, molybdenium, lanthanium, and tantalium. And we won't go into aurium, argyrium, ferrium, cuprium...

 

and nogoodium

 

Add chocolate. It would save us money in the long run. When I get my daily sweet fix all I'd need to do is eat a few chocolate coins. It would save me money since I wouldn't have to spend money on gas going to the store.

 

It's true that the nickel costs more to make than it is worth.
However, you are only considering 1 single value for the nickel.
A nickel in circulation will be used thousands of times. Possibly even millions of times during it's life.
I think that more than makes up for the initial cost.

 

Way better option than plundering my wife’s dresser for her chocolate stash…. Yes I was just busted.

 

Most sources I've found say that at the time the half-cent was discontinued, its purchasing power was equivalent to about 18 cents today. The cent's purchasing power was double that, of course - more than the purchasing power of today's quarter.

It would make perfect economic sense to discontinue the cent, nickel, AND dime. But economic sense rarely has much of a say in these decisions, and again, cash of any form is on its way out.

 

British: al-yoo-min-ee-umm

American: al-loom-in-umm.

Just watch Britbox, Acorn or Midsommer Murders…they’ll school ya’.
…sorry, must scarper ( do a runner)…Spark