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Take a Penny, Leave a Penny
Every time the United States Mint stamps a new penny, the government loses $0.004. With an expected run of nine billion pennies in 2006, that equates to a production loss of $34 million. During WWII, the penny was coined from steel in order to conserve valuable copper assets for the war effort. In 1982, penny production was changed to a thin copper coating over zinc to keep the metal value of pennies below its worth. Rising ore and mineral markets, however, are driving the price of zinc to new highs as the metal is being used for new applications. Will the core metal of the penny be revised in the near future or will the currency eventually cease production?
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The Penny Is The Devil by LordDilly
Please, let’s just ditch the damn penny. I hate those friggin things. I never use them, they get in the way, no machines take them, and they are used in satanic rites. Well, maybe not the last one.
Eliminate the penny and make a two-cent coin... by Anonymous
They’ve got them in England and Australia.
What do you mean by "loses"? by Anonymous
For every piece of currency it produces it "loses" money. The act of handing a penny from the mint/fed/bank to someone doesn’t mean they hand over $0.01 worth of goods and materials — it’s actually a promisary note saying this token is backed by the US government and should be treated as if it is valued at $0.01. I’m pretty sure it costs a few cents to make a quarter or a dollar bill and that’s money the government "loses" and will never directly recoup.
According to the article, it costs $0.014 to produce a penny. I would claim the government loses $0.014 for each penny produced, but that wasn’t the point of the article. The point was that sometime soon, the value of the penny’s raw materials will rise above $0.01 (now at $0.008). When this happens, some dishonest folks will be able to melt pennies down and sell back the raw materials at a profit. THAT IS THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE COST OF PENNIES. If everyone were honest and obeyed the federal statutes, it wouldn’t matter if it costs $0.25 to make a penny, it would just be part of doing business and would be covered by your taxes.
what instead? by ToxicMegacolon
Not being a metal futures trader or expert, I was just curious what the alternatives were? Despite the rising cost of aluminum, are there cheaper alternatives? Is there anything that would lower the cost of production?
I don’t think the penny should be gotten rid of quite yet. It may not be popular for use, but if you save them you can cash them in for a higher value of currency that’s more practical to use. Alright, that’s it for my first post on omninerd.