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 Replies: 21 / Views: 2,405 |
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Forum Dad
 United States
24147 Posts |
 The House passed legislation Thursday to change the composition of pennies and nickels, addressing dramatic rises in metal prices that have made the coins more expensive to produce than their face value. Action now moves to the Senate, where the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee has a similar bill, though no action has yet been scheduled. According to the U.S. Mint, it costs 1.26 cents to make a penny and 7.7 cents to make a nickel. The House bill, sponsored by Zack Space , D-Ohio, estimates that reducing the cost of penny production to face value would save approximately $500 million over 10 years, while similar changes to nickel production would save $60 million annually. "Right now our government is needlessly throwing away money in the production of coins," Space, a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, said during floor debate on the bill May 6. The measure would allow for the minting of pennies made primarily of steel but coated with a copper-colored dye so they appear similar to the current zinc-copper alloy. It also would require the production of 5-cent coins made primarily of steel, with a coating of nickel, in place of the nickel-copper composition originally authorized in 1866 when the coins were first minted. The last time the penny and the nickel were produced at face value was fiscal year 2005, according to the Mint. Read Full StoryAll Recent News
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Valued Member
United States
186 Posts |
If this gets passed, I wonder what it will do to the value of all coins made prior to the new steel coins.
If they made them out of steel, I wish they wouldn't color them with dyes... that just rubs into my soul the fact that it's imitating a time when there was some intrinsic value to the coins... It's kinda sad.
Laura
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Quote:
...pennies made primarily of steel but coated with a copper-colored dye so they appear similar to the current zinc-copper alloy. It also would require the production of 5-cent coins made primarily of steel, with a coating of nickel --Or the US Mint could get their planchets from the same source as Canada's steel/nickel/copper clad 1c and 5c.  That's already a tested composition. Either way, I think we're looking at a complete retooling of the dies. It would be hard to achieve the relief of our current coins and maintain reasonable die life. In any event, it will sure be an interesting transition! (Btw--I like the new "qoute" formatting--it's easy to read!  ) Edited by KurtS
05/10/2008 5:22 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4867 Posts |
I agree with Kurt. The steel/nickel/copper clad composition has been tested and I see no reason why the US Mint can't borrow the RCM's idea. Makes sound sense to me. |
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Valued Member
United States
473 Posts |
We're talking about the same Congress right guys? Imagine...the Americans borrowing an idea from the Canadians! Imagine the hurt egos in washington.....much safer to paint our coins....
IDK, I might be missing the point entirely, but isn't money SUPPOSED to be worth something?
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
Quote:
-Or the US Mint could get their planchets from the same source as Canada's steel/nickel/copper clad 1c and 5c A no-brainer, since I believe the same company that makes our copper coated zinc planchets makes the copper coated steel planchets for Canada. (I say "I believe" since I cannot find the link I had that gave the exact information stating it as fact.) Edit: Look at the photos on their website, you will see some Canadian Cents there! Edited by jbuck
05/10/2008 8:43 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2589 Posts |
do you know how rediculous it will be when and if these new cents and nickels are made? Steel is magnetic, so everysingle commercial coin counting machine as well as many vending machines either use magnets or are programmed to reject steel blanks and foriegn coins. At the bank I work at our coin machines use a series of magnets to remove foriegn coins, but 1943 steel pennies get sucked away as well. It will cost millions upon millions of dollars to retrofit all of these machines. It will also allow foreign coins to be more readily accepted by machines as american coins causing more problems. I wonder what they will make currency out of when the dollar becomes cheaper than the paper its made out of.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2589 Posts |
this also means that like in 1982, 2009 may see even more varieties of pennies than are currently planned
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Valued Member
United States
186 Posts |
Great insight, XavierOfGreen !
Thanks!
Laura
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
XOG--
Well, as a balance, Coinstar operates in Canada too and seems to handle the magnetic currency OK.
Metal change is inevitable. I'm not sure I favor steel, but Canada has a workable solution.
I might favor some kind of Aluminum/bronze/etc. alloy that has better ductility and less corrosion.
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
Nonmagnetic steel is easily made. Are the steel based Canadian cents and nickels non-magnetic? I do not have any recent Canadian coins to test. I would hope that any composition change would happen before or after the 2009 cents are made. Who knows, maybe 2008 will have varieties? |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
965 Posts |
jbuck - The copper-plated and nickel-plated steel coins up here are magnetic.
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Valued Member
United States
324 Posts |
But you're throwing much more money away by not using the dollar coin in ordinary circulation. Switching the coin for the paper bill saves taxpayers $700 million!
If you call yourself fiscally conservative, have you started using the dollar coin? They work in most vending machines I've tried and even the self service checkout lanes at stores.
We're the only country that does not use the $1.00 coin. How wasteful!
Edited by BluegrassRiver
05/10/2008 10:07 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4867 Posts |
If the composition has to change, (which I feel it should), a good time to start would be with the 2010 Lincoln cents. I still think using the same blanks as Canada is a viable option.
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
Quote:
jbuck - The copper-plated and nickel-plated steel coins up here are magnetic. Thanks for the answer! Was the change a problem for your vending industry? |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
965 Posts |
jbuck - I don't know. I just moved here about 5 1/2 years ago.
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Replies: 21 / Views: 2,405 |
Posted 05/10/2008 5:17 pm
