Opinions: Is America Ready For A Brown Nickel?

The people that run it are, 'You just saved us 40 million... here take 10 for a bonus.'



If the melt value is twice the face then someone will hoard them and they become single use. Plus a coin in circulation for 100 years would have to be made of diamond to not degrade to the point of being useless, unless the coin were kept in storage for 80-90 of those years. Using a composition that degrades in 10 years but costs less to make allows you to take the disgusting junk that no one wants to use anymore and melt it down to make new coins, no need to buy new tin bullion. Just acid bath to process out the copper, rinse and re-mint (OK after melting and processing).

What's in your POCKET?

Vending Machines.... instead of re-tooling all their machines to accept a magnetic quarter or dime or lower, they will raise the price and only accept bills and cards.

The UNpopular Half and Dollar coin will only have a chance if the lower coins go away. With out cents and nickels to deal with it would be a trade off for cashiers while counting their change drawer.



2009 was his first year in office, composition change had been blowing around D.C. for a while. Am I missing something or were the production numbers low for that year because he was trying to save money and change it mid year 2009, or 2010.

Nickel Allergy - My fingers itch from the 25% nickel 75% copper alloy in the 5 cent'ers. Some of the new designs have a solid coating of 100% nickel, 4 times as much in contact with your skin as the old style.

I will have to find the exact information (Conder101 may have it handy), but the mint is dangerously close to not turning a profit now. The biggest lost was the seigniorage from the now NIFC baby dollars. I think the mint lost around $160,000,000 minting cents and nickels last year. That cost is only going to get higher. Inflation alone will see to that. I do not think the NCLT profits will ever be enough.

Arguments can be made for keeping the nickel (the quarter making it necessary), but the cent has to go immediately. No business should continue to make a product that eats a large portion (in this case, most) of their profit.

In my opinion as long as the net sum of making the entire suite of US coins isn't at a huge loss...why drop anything. I say leave the entire system intact

Additional note: based on published figures from the mint, the treasury sees a roughly 45¢ seigniorage per dollar minted....seems any business should be able to stay in business with that sort of profit margin!

Also to quote an old Simpsons episode:

"I say we just make them out of chocolate. Kids eat 'em anyway, so why fight it?"

Yes, my math was a little off, since I did it quickly in my head.

Based on 2013 mintage figures...

7,070,000,000 cents cost around $141,400,000.00 to produce, but only gained half back in seigniorage. Net loss, $70,700,000.00.
1,223,000,000 nickels cost around $110,070,000.00 to produce and gained $61,150,000.00 in seigniorage. Net loss, $48,920,000.00.

Total for both, $119,620,000.00. Still a huge waste of money.

Again, the mint is not losing money now, but they are very close to doing so (especially after losing the dollar coin seigniorage).



Because this is the problem with our country. We do not see how a little waste here and there adds up.

We continue to nickel and dime ourselves into trillions of dollars of debt. "A few million dollars lost here does not matter, it is for a good cause!" is amplified by thousands of "good causes" which are, in actuality, special interests. Yes, keeping the cent is a special interest; a subsidy to the zinc industry and for some reason a very small minority of people feel like getting rid of the cent will create much more pain and chaos than is logically possible.

Canada seems to be doing okay. We are no more or less capable. It is time for us to adapt and consider the larger picture. Yes, this is a small piece of a larger problem, but that is no excuse to continue wasting money on something most people can do without.

Regarding coin composition, I'm surprised to read the Mint would even consider another copper-plated zinc denomination!
Creating a galvanic reaction by using two metals was a terrible idea! Heck, even unplated zinc coins would be a better choice.
Imagine if the mint had struck aluminum cents since 1982? The coins would never be falling apart.

But this is largely a collecting concern, since the US shouldn't continue with the cent or nickel.

This system is called "Swedish rounding" (although I think this term originates from New Zealand) and it maintains the status quo perfectly.