It now costs 2¢ to make a US penny

[SilentPanda]

My outside the US travels are limited but one thing I found interesting about the places I went to vs the US was that they usually had the number on the coin. Our coins don't have the number on the currency which seems like it would be difficult for foreigners to use.

[wordoflife]

Originally Posted by SilentPanda

My outside the US travels are limited but one thing I found interesting about the places I went to vs the US was that they usually had the number on the coin. Our coins don't have the number on the currency which seems like it would be difficult for foreigners to use.

I just noticed, after seeing your post, that American money doesn't have numbers on it.

It really should imo.

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

I was waiting for someone else to mention this, but I haven't seen it yet so here goes. Maybe you youngsters are not aware of it, but, since the beginning of the dollar, the basic sub-unit of the dollar has been the mill:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_%28money%29

This is still frequently seen on gas prices and property tax bills, despite the fact that there are no longer mills in circulation. I can't see going to quarters only, but, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollars -sure. (Way back when, half-dollar coins were in common use. Not sure what happened.) Mills were in common use when my parents were young. Once physical pennies disappear, gas prices can still be given in pennies, and, tenth of pennies (mills), just as they are now.

I'm curious though, that some monetary conservatives seem to view the current situation as an example of government "waste". They should be very happy that coins, at least, if not paper money, are worth something based on the commodity metals they are made of.

[Happybunny]

Originally Posted by SilentPanda

My outside the US travels are limited but one thing I found interesting about the places I went to vs the US was that they usually had the number on the coin. Our coins don't have the number on the currency which seems like it would be difficult for foreigners to use.

Coins in America were the least of my problems.What I found far more confusing about American money was all the paper money was the same size and colours. I really had to check every time twice I paid for anything, coloured notes make it so much easier.
This and the fact that the softdrink machines took Dollar bills. No machines take paper money here.

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

[yg17]

Originally Posted by Happybunny

What I found so confusing about American money was all the paper money was the same size and colours. This and the fact that the softdrink machines took Dollar bills. I really had to check every time twice I paid for anything, coloured notes make it so much easier.

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

It's the take a penny, leave a penny tray (haven't seen Office Space? )

The idea is if your total is $10.01, you can give them a 20 dollar bill plus a penny from the tray to get an even 10 back instead of $9.99 (or $10.01, $11.01, whatever's in your wallet. You get the idea). Likewise, if my total is something like $9.98 and I hand over a 10, I'll drop the 2 cents in the tray rather than carry the change around.

[throAU]

Originally Posted by senseless

2¢ to make and distribute a US penny, 11¢ for a nickel. I know the government is inefficient, but this is silly.

It's because they have debased your money via inflation and the monetary value of the raw materials in the coin is worth more than the face value of the coin.

Its not necessarily to do with government inefficiency...the value of your dollar has just fallen so much compared to the price of the metals that make the coins.

[dukebound85]

Originally Posted by Happybunny

Coins in America were the least of my problems.What I found far more confusing about American money was all the paper money was the same size and colours. I really had to check every time twice I paid for anything, coloured notes make it so much easier.
This and the fact that the softdrink machines took Dollar bills. No machines take paper money here.

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

Haha and I remember thinking how weird it was having different color and different sizes of bills when I was in Europe.

[APlotdevice]

Originally Posted by Happybunny

Coins in America were the least of my problems.What I found far more confusing about American money was all the paper money was the same size and colours. I really had to check every time twice I paid for anything, coloured notes make it so much easier.
This and the fact that the softdrink machines took Dollar bills. No machines take paper money here.

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

US dollars have actually become a bit more colorful in recent years:



PS The $2 bill, though technically still legal currency, is rarely seen nowadays.
PPS Those dashes on the $100 bill are only seen when photocopied.

[Happybunny]

Originally Posted by yg17

It's the take a penny, leave a penny tray (haven't seen Office Space? )

The idea is if your total is $10.01, you can give them a 20 dollar bill plus a penny from the tray to get an even 10 back instead of $9.99 (or $10.01, $11.01, whatever's in your wallet. You get the idea). Likewise, if my total is something like $9.98 and I hand over a 10, I'll drop the 2 cents in the tray rather than carry the change around.

Thanks that's one of life's little mysteries cleared up.

Originally Posted by dukebound85

Haha and I remember thinking how weird it was having different color and different sizes of bills when I was in Europe.

I do suppose it's what you are used to. Plus it's one of the fun things about being abroard, everything being different.

Originally Posted by APlotdevice

US dollars have actually become a bit more colorful in recent years:

Image

PS The $2 bill, though technically still legal currency, is rarely seen nowadays.
PPS Those dashes on the $100 bill are only seen when photocopied.

Well I'm sure they didn't have those back in 2006. But I'll see them for my self this year.

[SilentPanda]

Originally Posted by Happybunny

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

After the explanations given... see how much we care about pennies? We leave them for other people!

[satcomer]

When I was in the US Army (for 6 years), did most of my time overseas, and i can tell you i never missed the penny. Even now 20 years later and i still like the idea of not using pennies. People will never miss the penny.

[MacNut]

If we get rid of the penny how will we buy useless crap on TV. Only $19.99 but wait, order now and get a second one free!

Am I the only one that would rather get rid of credit and keep cash. Seems we are in deeper debt as a country thanks to the credit card.

[APlotdevice]

Originally Posted by Happybunny

Well I'm sure they didn't have those back in 2006. But I'll see them for my self this year.

You may or may not see the new hundred dollar bills while your here. They were supposed to be issued a couple years ago, but production problems pushed them back to sometime this year at the earliest.

[Carlanga]

why are you people worried for the cost of making a penny; my guess is most money is electronic this day and is not printed out, so I would assume the cost of making $ would be offset and it could gain money at the end. THe same could be said of bills, when I went to one of the mints a few years back a $1 would cost them the same as a $20 bill to make (this was before all the new designs though), so bigger bills cost was really low and it offset the cost of the lower denomination plus my thinking of electronic $ that is not printed would make me think the cost as of today is irrelevant.

[ebow]

Originally Posted by chown33

Keep dimes, ditch quarters, make half-dollars practical (smaller). Result: a 1-2-5 series:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferr...r#1-2-5_series

Better, convert all coinage and bills to a 1-2-5 series, starting at dimes.

Yes, this!

Prices stay as they are, and are charged down to the $0.01 for electronic payments. But for cash payments, the final transaction amount gets rounded to the nearest $0.10. Half the time you "lose" up to $0.05, and half the time you "win" up to $0.05--an amount which someone making minimum wage earns in about 25 seconds.

Keep the dime, maybe introduce a 20-cent coin (perhaps the size of a nickel but thinner and with a ridged edge), and slim down the 50-cent piece. With those three denominations, you should only get 3 coins as change--and 75% of the time you'll get only 1 or 2--for any transaction, ignoring dollar coins (I've done the math). This should speed up things at the cash register.

Originally Posted by Carlanga

why are you people worried for the cost of making a penny;

Not worried, just very annoyed. Between the money lost in manufacturing a coin that's barely worth anything, and the time lost in handling it by both the customer and stores, it's just a nuisance.

By the way, when the US stopped circulating half-cent coins in 1857, they had the buying power that $0.12 has today. Somehow they survived back then.

[Mac'nCheese]

Originally Posted by Carlanga

why are you people worried for the cost of making a penny; my guess is most money is electronic this day and is not printed out, so I would assume the cost of making $ would be offset and it could gain money at the end. THe same could be said of bills, when I went to one of the mints a few years back a $1 would cost them the same as a $20 bill to make (this was before all the new designs though), so bigger bills cost was really low and it offset the cost of the lower denomination plus my thinking of electronic $ that is not printed would make me think the cost as of today is irrelevant.

Exactly! Why do people care that we take a loss on the penny? I know it sounds weird that its not worth as much as it cost to make...but so what? The other coins and bills, the higher you go, are worth more and more than what they cost to make...so its like a restaurant that makes small profit on salad, maybe a loss on a special but a fortune on the soda.

[ebow]

Originally Posted by Mac'nCheese

so its like a restaurant that makes small profit on salad, maybe a loss on a special but a fortune on the soda.

But the government doesn't use pennies as a loss-leader to entice people to also use "high-profit" quarters.

[rdowns]

Today is the last day the Canadian penny is in circulation. When it does no harm to anything, Republicans will call it socialist and never allow it to happen here.

[PracticalMac]

IMHO, we need to completely change the size of US change.

Dime is smaller and lighter then nickel and penny (and less expensive)?

Naturally millions of vending machines will need to be changed, but it is either that of get rid of metal coins altogether.

(kept comment short)

[SilentPanda]

Originally Posted by PracticalMac

IMHO, we need to completely change the size of US change.

Dime is smaller and lighter then nickel and penny?

Naturally millions of vending machines will need to be changed, but it is either that of get rid of metal coins altogether.

I'd rather we put a numerical value on the coins first. I don't believe any of our coins actually show how much they are worth in a numerical sense.

[PracticalMac]

Originally Posted by SilentPanda

I'd rather we put a numerical value on the coins first. I don't believe any of our coins actually show how much they are worth in a numerical sense.

Penny does.

[SilentPanda]

Originally Posted by PracticalMac

Penny does.

All mine just say "One Cent". Nickels say "Five Cents". Dimes say "One Dime". Quarters say "Quarter Dollar". The few countries I have been to in Europe have numbers on them. If I didn't speak English and was trying to use change in America (on vacation for instance) I would fail miserably. I was able to use Euro coins because they had numbers on them.

[Mac'nCheese]

Originally Posted by ebow

But the government doesn't use pennies as a loss-leader to entice people to also use "high-profit" quarters.

And the government isn't in it to make a profit either.

[ebow]

Originally Posted by Mac'nCheese

And the government isn't in it to make a profit either.

That's true. But I still find them annoying and tedious to deal with. And some businesses do as well (and they're finding it worthwhile to stop using pennies even when they always round in the customer's favor).

[throAU]

Originally Posted by senseless

2¢ to make and distribute a US penny, 11¢ for a nickel. I know the government is inefficient, but this is silly.

It's called inflation.

Via debasement of the US dollar by the federal reserve, the cost of the metal (which remains relatively constant - relative to things OTHER than money which is being debased) is now worth more than the face value of the coin.