Do You Imagine What It'd Be Like If 2 Cent Coins Were In Circulation Today?

I was thinking about this myself recently. They could stick with the old copper mix and get rid of the zinc. From a numismatic perspective it would be great. But, as has been mentioned, from an economics standpoint it just doesn't compute. I doubt it would be widely utilized.

As long as we are using a dollar-based system that depends on a centime/centum in the mix, we will have one-cent coins unless someone is willing to take a loss here and there. A cent here and there adds up for businesses. Do they come out ahead or do their customers? Rounding everything to a nickel value is consequential. This has been discussed ad infinitum on this and other forums.

I'd love to see the cashier's face in that case.

Here's a quote from Wikipedia:




I don't think the situation would be any different today. It's interesting to consider, though.

Maybe we should round everything to the nearest dollar and just get rid of coins altogether. My pockets would be a lot lighter...

But, what would I collect?

Just for kicks, I decided to calculate how much money is involved if we look at the total number of US consumers (approximately 250,000,000), times the number of cash transactions per year (276 per consumer), and if each of these transactions were rounded up by 1 cent. It comes to about $690,000,000. I want to be on the receiving end of that extra cent per purchase.

Now, if the producers are willing to eat that cent for each purchase, that would be the second best option. I don't see it happening.

My numbers are estimates from the US Census and the Federal Reserve. Your mileage may vary.

Rounding goes to the nearest, not the highest.

Over time it evens out.


But they will. It makes sense for public relations and they are still ahead because they do not have to pay that transaction fee they do for electronic payments.

Once one does it, they will all do it.

And make them all the same size and metal composition - It would shut the US economy down within hours!

If 2 cent pieces were IN circulation, or if they were to introduce 2 cent pieces into circulation? The two ideas are totally different.

If they were IN circulation, we probably would have grown up with them, patterns of use would be firmly established, and they would seem perfectly normal.

To introduce them would cause disruption at first until usage patterns could be established. It would take time, there would be resistance to their use (As a rule people tend to resist changing their ways) and unless there was a good demonstrable advantage to their use they would probably fail. The small size dollar is a good example of this. There is a demonstrable advantage to them, long term lower cost of production and use, but the continued issuance of the dollar note with it's advantage of lighter weight, convenience, short term cost saving, and familiarity negates the dollar coins advantages and the dollar coin fails. If both are produced the coins advantages do not outweigh the notes advantages. So as long as the note is produced the coin cannot succeed.

Excellent commentary.