Soooo we need to get rid of the penny and Nickel is what I’m seeing here
Narf234 on
Yep, this makes cents to me…
BJ22CS on
damn, I knew the nickel also cost more to make than face value, just like the penny, but I had no idea it was *that* much more(I thought it was like 6-8¢ per).
zummit on
The face value is not necessarily a good comparison when determining if a coin is worth making, because a quarter’s value to society is not 25 cents. A coin is simply a tool for facilitating exchange.
I have no idea how to get the total value to society of a coin, but you could approximate the value to the government by taking
– average lifespan of a coin in years
– average number of times a coin is used a year
– average tax collected per use
Just guessing that coins last 30 years, are used every month, and generate 5% of their value each time, a coin generates 72x its face value in revenue during its lifetime.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t better options, such as a phone that you’re going to have anyways, but if people want to use cash then the government is still “up” by letting them do it.
battleship61 on
Canada ditched the penny years ago. Legitimately, why is it necessary? We also passed a law, so all cash purchases are rounded to the nearest nickle. So much better.
smor729 on
Fun fact, in 1857 we stopped minting the US half-cent coin, as its buying power was low enough to be deemed not necessary. It had the buying power of what would currently be about 18 cents.
Unhappy_Poetry_8756 on
Let’s just get rid of all coins. Round to the nearest dollar and call it a day.
hokeyphenokey on
They still make a half Dollar?
fireburner80 on
Don’t worry guys, the government definitely isn’t wasting your tax dollars.
burtsdog on
Maybe worth it. You don’t want your entire life saving digitized. One keystroke and you are homeless.
an_adventuringhobbit on
Jobs, there are jobs here, this isn’t tax corruption. It’s technically a part of being civilized.
deededee13 on
Interesting comparison but the underlying implication is not necessarily a relevant argument. Cost of production/distribution against face value are relatively meaningless when taking into account for why we create physical currency. It’s purpose exists as a service to enable the smooth flow of cash transactions throughout the United States.
If we were to start printing thousand dollar bills again, would that be a better use of the mint since it would be a better ROI? No, because the mint would be failing in its goal of smooth and efficient currency transactions as no one would use thousand dollar bills. We’d probably save even more money if we digitized the whole system and did away with physical currency altogether but that’s not the point. The mint is a service not a business.
dizzi800 on
I knew about the penny – but not the Nickel! Holy cow!
Manowaffle on
The cost to mint a coin isn’t a good metric. You could mint a $250 coin for 5 cents, but that’s not a useful denomination for coins. A quarter might cost 15 cents, but it can be used in hundreds of transactions over its useful life. The better metric is how useful the coin is. The penny is useless. It’s so useless that people throw them away. It’s more useful as a weight than a coin.
manliness-dot-space on
You should add a column for market rate or the materials contained in the coin.
Connathon on
Lets get rid of all items that are priced XX.99
tripping_on_phonics on
They pay me a nickel instead of a dime, and so I use Reddit on company time.
beorn961 on
Let’s get rid of pennies and nickels. We’re long overdue.
avatoin on
While the cost of the penny and nickel are higher than their value, I no longer argue that that’s the reason we should stop making them. A coin can be used multiple times, many more than a dollar bill due to wear and tear alone. So if you multiple the nominal value of a coin times the number of times it changes hands, you probably will far exceed the cost it took to make that coin.
The problem with pennies and nickels is that they don’t change hands enough times anymore to be worth it. Pennies and nickels cost people time and effort to store them, only to maybe never use them unless it’s convenient. I suspect that most people, when given a penny or nickel, will never use the penny or nickel. It’ll get lost in the sofa, the car seats, or just straight up abandoned. They no longer provide enough utility to society to justify their continued usage.
reduhl on
What is the circulation time on the coins. Yep a penny costs alot to make. How long does it last? How about paper money how much and how long does it circulate?
Personally, I’d like to see a $5 coin and such to reduce printing costs.
sutroheights on
Other places have gotten rid of them, and they’re just fine. (source – I live in NZ now, they don’t have them, it’s great)
nish1021 on
So the phrase should actually be “they penny and nickel you to death” since those have the huge hidden costs and are therefore worth less than what you get.
![The cost of making coins [OC]](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nosvrw25fyge1-1533x1536.png "The cost of making coins [OC]")
22 Comments
Soooo we need to get rid of the penny and Nickel is what I’m seeing here
Yep, this makes cents to me…
damn, I knew the nickel also cost more to make than face value, just like the penny, but I had no idea it was *that* much more(I thought it was like 6-8¢ per).
The face value is not necessarily a good comparison when determining if a coin is worth making, because a quarter’s value to society is not 25 cents. A coin is simply a tool for facilitating exchange.
I have no idea how to get the total value to society of a coin, but you could approximate the value to the government by taking
– average lifespan of a coin in years
– average number of times a coin is used a year
– average tax collected per use
Just guessing that coins last 30 years, are used every month, and generate 5% of their value each time, a coin generates 72x its face value in revenue during its lifetime.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t better options, such as a phone that you’re going to have anyways, but if people want to use cash then the government is still “up” by letting them do it.
Canada ditched the penny years ago. Legitimately, why is it necessary? We also passed a law, so all cash purchases are rounded to the nearest nickle. So much better.
Fun fact, in 1857 we stopped minting the US half-cent coin, as its buying power was low enough to be deemed not necessary. It had the buying power of what would currently be about 18 cents.
Let’s just get rid of all coins. Round to the nearest dollar and call it a day.
They still make a half Dollar?
Don’t worry guys, the government definitely isn’t wasting your tax dollars.
Maybe worth it. You don’t want your entire life saving digitized. One keystroke and you are homeless.
Jobs, there are jobs here, this isn’t tax corruption. It’s technically a part of being civilized.
Interesting comparison but the underlying implication is not necessarily a relevant argument. Cost of production/distribution against face value are relatively meaningless when taking into account for why we create physical currency. It’s purpose exists as a service to enable the smooth flow of cash transactions throughout the United States.
If we were to start printing thousand dollar bills again, would that be a better use of the mint since it would be a better ROI? No, because the mint would be failing in its goal of smooth and efficient currency transactions as no one would use thousand dollar bills. We’d probably save even more money if we digitized the whole system and did away with physical currency altogether but that’s not the point. The mint is a service not a business.
I knew about the penny – but not the Nickel! Holy cow!
The cost to mint a coin isn’t a good metric. You could mint a $250 coin for 5 cents, but that’s not a useful denomination for coins. A quarter might cost 15 cents, but it can be used in hundreds of transactions over its useful life. The better metric is how useful the coin is. The penny is useless. It’s so useless that people throw them away. It’s more useful as a weight than a coin.
You should add a column for market rate or the materials contained in the coin.
Lets get rid of all items that are priced XX.99
They pay me a nickel instead of a dime, and so I use Reddit on company time.
Let’s get rid of pennies and nickels. We’re long overdue.
While the cost of the penny and nickel are higher than their value, I no longer argue that that’s the reason we should stop making them. A coin can be used multiple times, many more than a dollar bill due to wear and tear alone. So if you multiple the nominal value of a coin times the number of times it changes hands, you probably will far exceed the cost it took to make that coin.
The problem with pennies and nickels is that they don’t change hands enough times anymore to be worth it. Pennies and nickels cost people time and effort to store them, only to maybe never use them unless it’s convenient. I suspect that most people, when given a penny or nickel, will never use the penny or nickel. It’ll get lost in the sofa, the car seats, or just straight up abandoned. They no longer provide enough utility to society to justify their continued usage.
What is the circulation time on the coins. Yep a penny costs alot to make. How long does it last? How about paper money how much and how long does it circulate?
Personally, I’d like to see a $5 coin and such to reduce printing costs.
Other places have gotten rid of them, and they’re just fine. (source – I live in NZ now, they don’t have them, it’s great)
So the phrase should actually be “they penny and nickel you to death” since those have the huge hidden costs and are therefore worth less than what you get.