Doge Seeking To Close San Francisco Mint

Absurd. So mints can't procure metals from American mines and support local industries. And you fire mint employees - what jobs are you expecting them to get next?

I bet the whole objective is to sell the SF mint and convert it to a grand hotel.

Why support !@#$ (I don't consider them as people) that think it's acceptable to fire normal folks. It's totally messed up.

Highly doubt this.........why?

This comment does NOT indicate support ... just an explanation of the rationale for closing a mint based on personal experience in corporate restructuring.

If you stop making pennies, you don't really save much money, because the fixed costs will mostly remain. They get shifted to the other products and then surprisingly(!) the cost making of nickels, dimes and quarters go up,making them (in particular the nickel) look even less profitable.

So if you don't like the profitability of U.S. minting operations, and really want to cut costs, you need to shut down a facility and consolidate operations to the remaining ones.

That's how corporate mergers realize the cost savings they promise to shareholders.

I won;t stray into the politics by commenting on the effects on the people who lose their jobs, but will stick to economics and say that when enough people in enough places lose their jobs, demand for goods and services decreases, and economic activity declines.

Which is called a recession.

Respectfully, -152 jobs will not trigger a recession in a city of millions.

My prediction: nothing will happen. Tempest in a teacup, again.

According to the article, the money to support their operation comes from sales of the mint product they produce. If it closes, will such products be made elsewhere?

Perhaps the Royal Canadian Mint could help out?

Politics is one thing - people's livelihood is another. Don't mix the two. I sympathize those who may be losing their jobs. Unless you have been in that situation, it is something that you will never understand. Acknowledge that this is the reality of running a business but the shear lack of empathy is what I am fuming over.

"Only" 152 internal jobs makes it sound like it's no big deal. What about any contracts related to procurement? Mint supply, maintenance etc? No secondary job loss? Impact on community? Mental health? List keeps going on.

One can always claim that people are no longer using coins thus this may have been inevitable. Next door neighbor Canada have been investing their R&D into multi-ply plated steel and have been very successful in introducing this to the rest of the world. Please see the list of coins that RCM have struck worldwide:

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/in...hp?mi=20&p=1

US mints have successfully struck coins for overseas in the past. Why can't it be done today? Tough competition?

To me, if you really want to do some significant cost savings - I would revisit metal composition like what the US mints did in 1964 and 1982. With higher than normal inflation over the last few years, why not have higher denomination coins? That would help with seigniorage. Why not 2 or 5 dollar coin? A dollar doesn't go as far as what it used to anyway.

I remain convinced that the people responsible for making this decision don't want to have to start tipping strippers with $5 bills. (Then again, I haven't been to that kind of bar since 1994 so maybe things have changed.)


Most of the SF Mint's products are for collectors, not circulation, so this specific point doesn't carry much weight, unless other facilities can carry the load as they wind down production for general commerce.