Comments on: Should We Make Cents?

Morley Safer On The Bizarre Economics Of Producing Money

[neighbourjay]

If it costs 120 million dollars to make 80 million dollars worth of pennies... why not make the penny worth 2 cents? Then you''ll have 160 million dollars for the same cost. Now that maks cents.

[loloma-2009]

Why not make the penny actually worth 2 cents? It''s a simple and elegant solution. You can still put in your "two cents worth". And merchants would lower their prices to $3.98 instead of $3.99 since they never want you to think you''re paying $4.00.

[gaf415623]

Australia got rid of the 1 cent years ago. They simply round down for .01 and .02, and up for .03 and .04. It all evens out in the end.

[tenabroc]

For several years a website has been tracking the daily melt value of all coins based on the traded copper and zinc prices: www.coinflation.com
They came up with the term "coinflation" for the very phenomenon this segment covered.

[loloma-2009]

Why not make the penny actually worth 2 cents? It''s a simple and elegant solution. You can still put in your "two cents worth". And merchants would lower their prices to $3.98 instead of $3.99 since they never want you to think you''re paying $4.00.

[tenabroc]

For several years a website has been tracking the daily melt value of all coins based on the traded copper and zinc prices: www.coinflation.com
They came up with the term "coinflation" for the very phenomenon this segment covered.

[mwielgus]

How much of the cost of making coins is the result of the frequent re-design that is taking place? Why can''t the government decide on something, and let it alone?

[beenk-2009]

My state has a 7% sales tax. How far would you get without penny''s if you paid in cash. I don''t want the state rounding up and they sure wouldn''t round down.

[ugottabkiddn]

Come on... the real reason for the penny being worth 2 cents is the devaluation of the US$ on the world market. Our dollar is worth half of what it was when bush took office. Extensive printing of dollars with no backing has decreased the value of our money. Copper, Zinc, and all other commodities are sold on the world market. When the US$ is worth less, everything takes more US$ to buy, including oil.

[ajslunch]

It seems to me that the solution is to ALSO ROUND DOWN: if something costs $10.31, you should be charged $10.30 - if something costs $10.33, then you should be charged $10.35. (.00 cents to .02 cents, round down, .03 cents to .05 cents, round up) Rounding both ways would kept the penny out of circulation without causing any problem.

[ugottabkiddn]

Come on... the real reason for the penny being worth 2 cents is the devaluation of the US$ on the world market. Our dollar is worth half of what it was when bush took office. Extensive printing of dollars with no backing has decreased the value of our money. Copper, Zinc, and all other commodities are sold on the world market. When the US$ is worth less, everything takes more US$ to buy!!

[jaredsma397]

I''m ,admittedly, of a ''love pennies'' generation. But it''s hilarious to me that we''ve spent trillions of dollars on a war to which many of us take exception (with no end in sight), and we''re worried about the cost of making pennies! Perhaps the experts on the penny matter might switch their focus to that, or world hunger, or global warming, or....
Judy

[djacobs4410]

It cost more to make metal money than paper.... So what would be the solution without changing all those little cost? We take the paper dollar, cut it in half to change the size, redesign the pictures and "wa-la" we have new paper cents.