Opinions: Is America Ready For A Brown Nickel?

Great discussion!! Enjoying the viewpoints.

My thoughts -

- modern pennies are awful; finding nice specimens to collect is more difficult (but is a collector issue)
- modern pennies are awful; they seem to 'dissolve' as noted above
- modern pennies are challenging to make; cost of material and production are a loss for some coins but not for others (pennies being obvious)

It's mind-blowing that material studies cost $8+M! I agree a study (or studies) is needed to understand and investigate potential solutions, but the price seems absurd. I was also surprised to learn that the mints operate for profit - I shared the mindset of the unholyroller. Seems to me if it is indeed this way, then it probably shouldn't be. Sounds like a 'third-party' fiasco often found in industry today. Outsourcing leads to poor practice and higher hidden costs (but that's MHO). While the mints are still 'profitable', it's time to find an appropriate solution. The solution to expect that a consumer by two of everything to make the math correct is not a sustainable solution. The 'Swedish' accounting (unresearched by me) seems to be believable in the sense that with every second item, the offset kicks in. But this suggests that one person profits at another's expense. Again, put on the backs of the consumers (or retailers if they elect to eat the loss). Sustainable in the long run? Maybe an economist can explain.

Maybe the solution is to empty out all of our ashtrays, coin mugs, and other catch-alls of all the awful modern pennies before they dissolve and go unnoticed by us all. This way the Mints can have the valuable long-term data on the durability of past material selections and reduce the demand for pennies. But then the penny might cost a nickel to make - with lower production quantities needed and the same overhead costs. Yep...that wont work either.

Back to the group...

As much as I like collecting pennies and nickels from circulation, I think the best solution is to either scale the production back significantly, or just stop it altogether and let the coins circulate as long as they will. Even though the zinc cents don't hold up nearly as well as the bronze ones, there is no shortage of 1983 cents in circulation, even 31 years later. We could stop cent production today and still see them in circulation 20-50 years from now. Half Cents are still legal tender today--there is no reason to recall and demonitize the cent as long as it still serves a purpose. Likewise with the nickel--I still get coins in my change that are 60+ years old on a reasonably regular basis. I'm not sure about the new ultra-low relief design, but nickels are a coin that can easily withstand 100 years of circulation.

[quote]
.05 .06. 07 - becomes .05
.08. 09 .10 - becomes .10
[quote]

Should be:
.05 .06. 07 - becomes .10
.08. 09 .10 - becomes .10

No one would round down. Why would they round down? Rounding down makes businesses loose money, rounding up is more revenue.

I fully support the cent. We cannot get rid of it. I'd love to see a redenomination, demonetize all coins from after 1964 (cent after 1981, since 1982's are half-and-half), and reissue silver, or do a complete overhaul 1 new dollar = 100 old dollars and bring back the gold standard. Stabilizes the economy, demonitize massive holdings of worthless FRN's (make criminals loose out), win-win for everyone.

But, a copper nickel? That just makes no sense.

In practical theory...if, and I say if, we were to drop the cent AND nickel at the same time, it would be like moving the decimal place over by one. In essence the dime would be the new penny. Or in reverse fashion we could retain the cent and nickel and move the decimal place of the economy over by one, thereby giving the cent the buying power of a dime. Both would work but which is easier? The main issue to me for either conversion is bank accounts...yes, bank accounts! Which do you see as easier to get the public to swallow....say bye bye to the cent and nickel but have your $50,000 in the bank still read $50,000 on Monday OR keep the cent and nickel and move the economy decimal and have everyone's $50,000 read $5,000 on Monday? Do I need to explain further?

To me, as I have stated earlier, I am a big proponent of tradition and I would like to see the cent and nickel around for the long haul. It is the buying power of these two denominations that cause it issue today in regards to its long term viability. Would I personally prefer to see our economy move the decimal place over by one and have gas go to 35¢ a gallon? Psychologically speaking yes! The "no can do" issue with that, and one we cannot change right now, is that we are the world standard currency. We move our decimal place and everyone else has to as well, and that just won't happen, unless we are willing to relinquish our status as the world standard currency, which would be a horrible idea! Ultimately the solution is...the dime is the new cent...which I will move towards kicking and screaming...but ultimately my friends, that will be the ultimate outcome.

ASLAN...better off being Jayne....he has more guns! Lol

Jayne and Vera... I'll still take the hidden piece in "Out of Gas" and I'm way too witty to be Jayne

Edit: spelling, as always

No way would you keep the quarter! If you're all complaining about rounding and math now, what are you going to do with a 2.5-cent denomination? Here, I even drew up this shiny concept for the fifth dollar:

[]quote]I'm still trying to get over the penny being gone. It's sad that we had it decided for us. It was also a mini inflation jump because you know stores took advantage of the rounding off to the nickle to raise prices to their advantage. Also that if you pay with any kind of plastic you still pay to the penny. Thank God I can still get silver coins.[/quote]
Most time I can nowadays I am working on a book so I just saw this thread.

This is something that I believe future naysayers will say never happened. Its parallel is with people saying that eliminating the US dollar bill will not cause a rise in the cost of everything as it already did do in Canada when the Loonie was born (this was verified in former threads here on CCF by asking Canadians).

I am against anything that will allow more of my money to be taken out of my pocket. Even down to it being 1 or 2 cents a purchase.

I use the same analogy jbuck does when he mentioned how saving a million here and there adds up over time. One or Two Cents - up to 10 cents - adds up over time. I throw all my change into a jar and use it for gas money on vacation. At the end of the year it adds up to a nice sum - pennies and all. I want to keep this small change accumulation in MY pocket (piggy bank) instead of not having it.

And nowadays the way the government has engineered to take even more money away from the working people (a BIG one in cost of health care for WORKING people will/has already dramatically increased), I hate giving up even one cent. To me the rounding is just a way to get my pocket change also.

I highly doubt the problem is not going to be solved. Their work shows our lawmakers no longer work towards a better future for us. They live for the here and now and what can be gained in this moment. Otherwise the problems we have nowadays concerning SS, etc. would not be with us. The problems that cost peoples' lives (health care) are not important enough for them to actually fix by eliminating the root of the problem instead of simply engineering their own desires. So why in the world would they even care about the penny?

Until the politicians, as a whole, see something that will be advantageous for their own ideas/careers/wealth, the penny issue is small potatoes to them. Unfortunately THEY see "only" $100,000,000 as not worth their time.

And the real fix of returning to real money will not be implemented b/c it takes the power from the FED - ain't gonna happen.

To D.C.
PLEASE... prove me wrong... I will enjoy it!