How much does it cost to make a penny, and are we ‘losing’ money on other coins?

The Hill ^ | February 10, 2025 | Addy Bink

[rexthecat]

I never handle coins. Haven’t seen a penny in 10 years.

[gundog]

Modern coin counting and rolling machines are brutal. I find 60 year old nickels that are in better shape than some that are 5 years old.

[GingisK]

Coins today sure don’t feel or sound like the coins we had in the 80s

Coin Drop

[Red Badger]

I wouldn’t bee too sure about that.

I have had cashiers give me back all my change plus some when I gave them extra in order to get back whole bills.............

[Vaduz]

Collectors items if production of them ends.

[joshua c]

what about ha’ pennies?

[joshua c]

come clean out my couch

[GingisK]

Or, find cheaper material to make them out of.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle suggested using spent fuel rods. The benefits are as follows:

Nobody would hoard the coins in an effort to avoid critical mass
Pending bank robbers would be easy to spot due the the lead suit
Payments for international debt could be delivered by ICBM

I can't remember the others.

[Red Badger]

That’s worth less than nothing!............except to a numismatist!.........

[DesertRhino]

Just another step in getting rid of cash and moving us into a cashless society where they can track everything.

[cgbg]

Yeah—I thought about that but the numbers don’t lie.

We are taking a bath on pennies and nickels.

[Red Badger]

If you lose your coins you can find them with a Geiger counter, or wait till night time and they will glow in the dark.............

[hinckley buzzard]

Pennies currently are made of copper plated zinc. idk how much of the cost is due to materials, I would guess not much.

[GingisK]

Yeah! Was that in “A Step Farther Out”?

[Red Badger]

I can’t remember, I’ve read so much!...................

[oldtech]

Doing away with fractional dollars poses a question. Does $1.50 (for instance) increase to $2 dollar or does it decrease to $1.00 ?

[GingisK]

Two for three dollars?

[DesertRhino]

Doesn’t matter. That’s an excuse. We have had a hundredth of ac dollar since the nation started. The government destroyed the value of the dollar till 96% if it’s buying power is gone, then they tell us they want to drop the penny.
Be honest and explain that a dollar is roughly the same as 3 cents before the federal reserve and that they need to devalue the currency.

[cgbg]

I am a business guy.

Saving cash is saving cash.

I leave theory to the theorists.

[GingisK]

No more deceptive “Just $1.99” pricing.