Treasury loses money minting coins: a penny costs 1.26 cents, a nickel costs 7.7 cents

http://www.times-standard.com/ci_9181588

Congress looking at steel pennies and nickels
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 05/07/2008 09:22:21 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Further evidence that times are tough: It now costs more than a penny to make a penny. And the cost of a nickel is more than 7 1/2 cents.

Surging prices for copper, zinc and nickel have some in Congress trying to bring back the steel-made pennies of World War II, and maybe using steel for nickels, as well.

Copper and nickel prices have tripled since 2003 and the price of zinc has quadrupled, said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., whose subcommittee oversees the U.S. Mint.

(snip)

Gutierrez estimated that striking the two coins at costs well above their face value set the Treasury and taxpayers back about $100 million last year alone.

A lousy deal, lawmakers have concluded. On Tuesday, the House debated a bill that directs the Treasury secretary to “prescribe” -- suggest -- a new, more economical composition of the nickel and the penny. A vote was delayed because of Republican procedural moves and is expected later in the week.

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birthplace is important to now this? Lifelong Dem here who is now beyond disappointed. Och, disappointment in Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. They've been nothing more than more of the same thing. I know, they don't have the majority that is needed to push things, and I know, anything that they could accomplish would be vetoed by HIM WHOSE NAME SHALL NOT BE MENTIONED. But, it's just frustrating for those of us who have voted, worked, paid our taxes, etc., to witness this idiocy.

I mean, since this could be seen coming YEARS ago, they could have entered into some very large futures contracts a while back that would have let them continue to buy it at the prices 5 or 10 years ago.

I mean, if I remember what I read correctly, Southwest Airlines still pays under $80 a barrel for oil because of the contracts they built.

This is actually very old news. Was it last year that the Congress decided to make it illegal to export coins en masse or melt them down? Because we all know there was an international ring of coin melters that were hoarding US coinage so they could profit off of the silver content. There isn't much silver in a current coin, but the little bit that is there is worth a decent amount thanks to the $16-$22/ounce silver price of the last couple of years.

Whatever we do, we can't let these guys move us to (solely) electronic money. When you have money that can be centrally turned off, it's over. As silly as it sounds, Max Headroom called this back in the '80s. They turned off his accounts, and he became unable to even enter his apartment.

Not a bit. The last trace of silver in US coins was removed in 1971, when the composition of the Kennedy half dollar was changed to cupro-nickel from the 40% silver alloy that had been used from 1965 to 1970.

But you are right about the electronic money-- the less tangible money there is, and the more that "money" is created out of thin air, the greater the chances are for fraud and abuse.

those dollar coins? do they still make 50¢? how much do they make on $100 bills? it all evens out. so shut up about the penny.

it doesn't "equal out" as much as you think.

1. Not all denominations are made in the same amounts. For bills, the $100, $20 and the $1 are printed in the largest amounts, in that order.
$50, $5 and $10 come in with the ten dollar bill being the lowest print runs. The key factor with bills, the average life is roughly 17 months.
Yes, 17 months! ... they get worn and returned to be replaced. The BEP prints roughly $10 BILLION face value in bills... PER MONTH!

2. Coins last roughly 30 years. I don't want to go into all the mintage details for coins, the numbers are so large they almost seem meaningless.


To sum up the point, it roughly cost twice as much to make a coin vs a bill. BUT if you do the math and compare how long they last... coins are much cheaper to produce.

As an avid coin collector, I have always wished they would get rid of the penny... my Lincoln Set will skyrocket! :)

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The steel-zinc alloy that was used in 1943 quickly rusted. Of course, the zinc that is used in today's pennies isn't much better.

http://www.coinflation.com/

From my own research (getting some rolls of pennies from the bank and sorting them with my daughters) we found that about 30% of pennies still in circulation are pre-82, with a good copper content.