US Treasury Ordered To Stop Producing New Cents

And when the nickel gets the boot...

'Legally' pennies are fiat currency, but they are worth enough to be a commodity. People could still barter with them even if they weren't legal tender. The melt value of a zinc cent is 3/4ths of a cent. 75% of its value is better than nickel-clad coins worth about 10%-15% of their value. That isn't as good as nickels, but it is a lot more authentic than any paper bill. Also, there are still plenty of pre-1982 pennies around worth more than 2 cents. There would be no need to melt down nickels; they have a constant, determined value. Did you know that early Americans in the 1790s mostly used foreign coins for transactions? They weren't fiat currency, but it was a decent medium of exchange.

I will agree and concede that if it ever comes down to that, nickels will punch well above their weight.

Maybe that is why I have been hoarding nickels? I do have more of them than 95% copper cents.

jbuck, you want the nickel NIFC too? The NIFC bubble is going to pop eventually and, like CTOs for philately, having more collector coin denominations than business strikes might be the thing that does it. Still, that would need sensible rounding laws, and such laws don't happen fast, so killing the nickel will remain just fantasy for awhile. But, it does make me wonder what rounding laws, if any, were put into effect when the mint stopped making Half Cents. Anyone know? If they can be applied now, maybe we can kill off the dime as well while we're at it.

I want it to not cost $0.14 to make $0.05 coin. So, change the material or make it NIFC (and sell that $0.14 coin for $2).

Maybe. As long as people buy them, the Mint can sell them. I will still buy them. I am in this to fill album holes, not pad my bottom line. If and when they stop, so will I.

I have to agree, especially when a material change is still feasible for a circulating five cents coin. (Cannot call it a nickel, can you?)

Probably none. Rounding is just math. Today, it has to be done the nearest cent for sales taxes and gasoline. I do not understand why people find rounding so complicated. They handled it back then, and they did not have computers or sophisticated point of sale terminals. This says way too much about our education system.

Burn it all down. It is what the people seem to want anyway.

They should bring back the Half Dime in clad.

I joke but.

Perhaps, but I doubt it. Nobody wants pennies especially the stores. They will take them to the banks and round transactions. There will beno source for pennies except what the banks give their customers. Pennies will trickle into banks for years after the initial flood and will very rapidly fade from commerce, I believe.

In addition to this chokepoint there will be many people who want pennies to save as mementos or nostalgia.

Very few people will miss this coin. Surethere will be some who carry pennies at first to make transactions come out even but they'll soon wise up and realize it's excessive work for no gain. Some will try to come out ahead by letting stores round down while they use pennies to avoid rounding up, but if much of this occurs stores will simply refuse pennies after a few months. Keep in mind the average grocery tab is $50 and even if the store lost Two Cents on every transaction it is insignificant because pennies have had no value in many years.