New British coin

Quote: Wizard

... the Susan B. Anthony quarter...

SBA quarter?

That little Freudian slip defines the problem exactly.

Quote: Wizard

Are we not allowed to now? I know they cost over a penny to make but would the scrap metal value as an alloy be worth over a penny?

The cost of production of penny is well over 1 cent, but the raw material since 1983 is copper plated zinc. It is not cost effective to melt them down.

Now the older ones 1959-1982 (Bronze without Tin) and 1909-1958 (Bronze with Tin) may be worth melting down, but their collectible value is probably worth more than their raw metal value.

The ECB has produced 32.7 billion one cent coins and 25.1 billion two cent coins and 19.5 billion five cent coins from 2002 through the end of 2016. These are the cheap coins which some shops in richer countries won't accept.



The USA has produced 84 billion zinc Lincoln pennies from 2003 through 2015 and another 227 billion from 1983 through 2002. Most of the older bronze pennies have vanished from circulation.

Total (Bronze with Tin) 25.8 billion {prior to 1958}
Total (Bronze without Tin) 139.6 billion {1959-1982}

The real issue is not that we have a penny (so does Britain, the European Union, and Japan) it's that we produce so many of them. As half the coins produced are pennies, they are the main reason why we still maintain two mints.

Japanese pennies can float on water, as they are very light. They don't make very many as most people don't even want them for change.

Some people get very upset if they don't get exact change. So a bill of, oh, $2.03 would be rounded up to $2.05 absent the penny. That's two whole cents you'd be cheated out of!

The thing is, if you stop making pennies, they'd remain in circulation for decades. Coins last a very long time. One way to remove them from circulation is to demonetize them, but the US doesn't usually do this to its currency. Another way would be to offer something for the coins, like allowing people to sell them for scrap at more than $0.01 per piece. But if that's not the value, well, it doesn't work.

So next is the logical step: buy them back. Offer people $0.015 per penny. If 50 billion pennies are in circulation and every last one is redeemed, that would cost $750 million. That's a respectable amount of money, but you could close down one whole mint!

Quote: Nareed

So next is the logical step: buy them back. Offer people $0.015 per penny. If 50 billion pennies are in circulation and every last one is redeemed, that would cost $750 million. That's a respectable amount of money, but you could close down one whole mint!

The easiest thing would be issue an executive order saying that the penny is now worth $0.05 and collect nickels being turned into banks. Most of the nickels will vanish into coin collections anyway, but it would take care of the problem that a nickel costs about 8 cents to produce.

Nearly all of the pennies from 1959 forward will come out of hiding if they are worth 5X as much. Even if only the ones from 1983 on forward appear, that should cover the need for coins for decades.

(Zinc with copper) 311.2 billion {1983-2015}
(Bronze without Tin) 139.6 billion {1959-1982}
(Bronze with Tin) 25.8 billion {1909 - 1958}

Then stop making the 50 cent piece. We only need one mint to produce dimes and quarters.

Quote: Pacomartin

The easiest thing would be issue an executive order saying that the penny is now worth $0.05 and collect nickels being turned into banks. Most of the nickels will vanish into coin collections anyway, but it would take care of the problem that a nickel costs about 8 cents to produce.

Ok. I knew the penny was worth more than a penny to produce, but I'd no idea the nickel was screwed up as well.

That's it for me. You're on your own now.

Or start making paper coins...

Quote: Nareed

Ok. I knew the penny was worth more than a penny to produce, but I'd no idea the nickel was screwed up as well.

That's it for me. You're on your own now.

Or start making paper coins...

They never changed the metal content of nickels, so in recent years they ended up costing more than a nickel to make. The mint produced fewer than 50 billion Jefferson Head nickels since 1938 , which is a tiny fraction of the 311 billion zinc pennies produced since only 1983.

In theory you don't even hae to collect the nickels, as you could say both pennies and nickels are worth 5 cents, but most of the nickels will vanish into coin collections.

It's a no brainer to get rid of the penny really. It's totally pointless. Heres what we do in Australia since the 1c & 2c coins were removed from circulation maybe 25 years ago:

Although they remain legal tender, banks remove them from circulation as they come in. No idea how many remain out there.
Good and services are still charged to the 1c level.
Cash transactions are rounded to the nearest 5c - totals of 1 or 2 cent are rounded down, 3 or 4 cent rounded up.
Card transactions are paid to the exact cent.

Next to go will be the 5c coing. Hopefully sooner rather than later as they are as irritating as 1c coins were two decades ago!

Pretty simple stuff really.

Quote: Aussie

It's a no brainer to get rid of the penny really. It's totally pointless. Heres what we do in Australia since the 1c & 2c coins were removed from circulation maybe 25 years ago:

Although they remain legal tender, banks remove them from circulation as they come in. No idea how many remain out there.
Good and services are still charged to the 1c level.
Cash transactions are rounded to the nearest 5c - totals of 1 or 2 cent are rounded down, 3 or 4 cent rounded up.
Card transactions are paid to the exact cent.

Next to go will be the 5c coing. Hopefully sooner rather than later as they are as irritating as 1c coins were two decades ago!

Pretty simple stuff really.

Are there a lot of items in Australian stores where the price ends in 3 or 8?

Quote: Aussie

It's a no brainer to get rid of the penny really.
Pretty simple stuff really.

David Wolman getting rid of pennies doesn't go far enough. He thinks coins are archaic. South Korea is getting rid of coins by 2020, and their smallest banknote is worth roughly $0.85

As I said earlier, getting rid of coins means that everyone must get an electronic payment scheme or give up a lot of change. Once everyone has an electronic payment scheme, then very few purchases will be done with banknotes.

All the northern European countries (Iceland, Britain, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark) are considering issuing a central bank sponsored digital currency. Details have not been worked out (interest or no interest, accounts or no accounts, recovery options if you lose your smartphone or other electronic means, etc.).

Quote: Ayecarumba

Are there a lot of items in Australian stores where the price ends in 3 or 8?

No but if you buy several items then you could end up with any digit at the end which is when the rounding takes place.