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 Replies: 24 / Views: 4,723 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19963 Posts |
Millions of zincolns are lost to attrition every year. Apparently the mint knows this as they are pumping out billions of replacement cents in the past few years.
Zincolns are not going to last nearly as long as the copper cents. Even BU examples that can be found are mostly MS-63 and lower. Well-struck, gem grade Zincolns are hard to find and, interestingly, almost completely ignored by collectors and dealers.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
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If it is determined that a large amount of Zincolns are disintegrating, wouldn't make sense to change the composition back to copper since it lasts a great deal longer and less would need to be minted? Because changing back to copper would mean greater cost losses, and the cents would disappear from circulation and have to be replaced anyway. The major loss of zincolns from circulation isn't because of them corroding away, it is because the cent has such little value that no one carries or uses them. For the most part the cent is a one way one use item. The Mint makes them, ships them to the Fed/armored car service, they go to the bank, then to the merchant, then to the customer as change, who then throws them in a jar where they sit for years or even decades. In the meantime the Mint has to replace them for the next cycle the following year. The economy isn't growing at a pace where they need another six billion cents each year just to keep up. They need another six billion to replace the six billion they struck last year which are now sitting in jars all over the country and not circulating. Most people don't realize how few coins have to be put aside as keepsakes, in jars, or lost to wipe out the entire annual Mint production. Four coins per week, per household. (or one coin, per person, per week) You put aside ONE roll of cents, and that is your entire coin production allowance for the whole YEAR. So if you are making cents that are going to just be doing a one way trip anyway, it makes more sense to make them out of the cheapest material possible, especially if you are going to be losing money on each one anyway. Edited by Conder101
06/18/2014 11:40 am
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Valued Member
United States
50 Posts |
Conder101 nice analysis. Plus switchover costs for die work would be huge which is never a good ask when you are minting a money loser like the cent.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
837 Posts |
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Well-struck, gem grade Zincolns are hard to find and, interestingly, almost completely ignored by collectors and dealers.  Yeah , that sounds like a great potential opportunity in the making  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
The ironic thing is..if these Zincolns weren't plated with copper, they would last longer. The copper only hastens their deterioration.
But I wonder if the Zincolns will be missed much? After all, one only really needs 4 cents in any cash transaction.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Zincolns were designed for one use only.
In my opinion they are capable of re cycling, and perhaps that should be what happens to them.
How many members of the Public just let them accumulate at home, just to be sent back to the bank in bulk?
Not very efficient for a working coinage.
Well struck gem uncircluated Zincolns are only comparatively rare against other zincolns. In an absolute sense they cannot be rare, when 6 billion of them are struck every year.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
593 Posts |
I think the Zincoln minting by the USMint is like the Canadian Mint that is doing to their nickle coins. They are recalling the nickle coin, and replace them with plated steel. They start to rust with any crack in the plating. I have several chrome plated nickles that were unc when I got them. I like the US and Canadian coins but if they go to the el-cheapo coins. I may have to stop collecting the newer coinage
They were in the cheap Whitman starter albums. And some chemical in the old albums ruined these coins appearance. I've had these since early 60`s, I didnt have them in a damp storage area.
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Moderator
 United States
189052 Posts |
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Zincolns were designed for one use only. Which is a good thing, since that is how billions of them are used each year.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
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But I wonder if the Zincolns will be missed much? After all, one only really needs 4 cents in any cash transaction. And if you round to the nearest five cents (after taxes) you don't need any. If they stopped making cents the ones available would quickly disappear into change jars and the businesses, unable to get cents, would quickly start rounding. Now they DON'T need them. So they would stop asking for them at the banks, and any deposited by businesses or people dumping their change jars would wind up going back to the fed and eventually recycled. Cents would eventually start a new one way trip from the hoards, to the bank, and back to the Fed. If the percentage of copper cents coming back is high enough, the profit from the copper would offset the seigniorage losses. (Although they may have to wait for higher copper prices.) |
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Replies: 24 / Views: 4,723 |
First Page
Posted 06/18/2014 11:38 am
