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The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

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Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#181

Post by coin_shitter »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #51
iamcasen wrote: post #34

Am I the only one who views pennies like an extreme annoyance? I would rather throw pennies in the trash than have them. They are literally THAT worthless. They take up far more space and weight than they offer in value. It seems like such a massive waste to continue using valuable metals to create something so worthless. Honestly, I think quarters should be the only coin we have.

I've moved beyond that. I discard all change, ruthlessly. If there's somebody nearby who wants them, I give them the whole handful of change. Otherwise it all goes in the trash on the way out of the store. Used to wear holes in my pants pockets, get stuck in dryer etc. Cost more than it was worth, in wear and tear, and in emotional energy to manage it. You can't imagine the freedom you feel when you discard your firs…

I love to throw my coins in the toilet and then shit all over them.

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#182

Post by rland »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #68
will_brown wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s actually the people who use credit/debit cards to make purchases who raise the prices on all goods/services for people who pay cash. The average merchant pays 2.3-3.5% per swipe, as a result prices are increased across the board and passed on to consumers, no matter if they pay with card or cash.

You claim this, but cash has its own costs. Such as running the risk of getting robbed, wrong change (and the retailer losing out), a safe, the costs and time included in physically getting the cash to the bank - either by employees driving it or paying a service to do it. Having enough change on hand can be an issue. Now, I don't know if all of this equals out to the same as the credit card fees, but it isn't like c…

Cash also has very diffuse benefits. It is anonymous, private, untraceable, and not able to be stolen or compromised without physical access.

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#183

Post by chatmasta »

jstarfish wrote: post #42
wolco wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are forgetting sale tax which changes the final price (if there exists tax is your region)

That isn't the point; he's talking about the psychological difference we ascribe to seeing gas pegged at $4.00 a gallon versus a mere $3.99, since the first digit is the most significant. Tax is always going to be the same no matter which station in town you use, so it's not a useful metric for comparison shopping. (And actually gas stations take it a step further. The $3.99 you see on the sign isn't the actual price…

> Tax is always going to be the same no matter which station in town you use, so it's not a useful metric for comparison shopping.

I grew up on the border of Maine (sales tax) and New Hampshire (no sales tax). There, tax is frequently used as a metric for comparison shopping. In fact there’s an entire street over the bridge into NH colloquially known as “gasoline alley.”

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#184

Post by mortenjorck »

noer wrote: post #17
refurb wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the headline seems dumb. If the mint creates a $100 bill for $1.50, did they make $98.50? No. The purpose of the mint is to maintain the US currency. It's a cost center, not a profit center.

Unless I'm reading it wrong, they do think of it that way (on coins at least): >Fortunately, dimes and quarters are cheaper to make, costing less than their monetary value. So the Mint makes up the losses incurred on pennies and nickels with its 10- and 25-cent coins, and last year reported making $391.5 million in seigniorage. Also, paper money isn't produced by the Mint, it's produced by the Bureau of Engraving & P…

The author of the article thinks of it that way, but I have to think the article is written from a misguided premise. The Mint may publish those numbers in the form of a balance sheet as a novelty, but as far as I understand, they don’t govern the money supply any more than the Bureau of Engraving and Printing does. Their scope is to strike currency, and I would think the exact monetary value of it is immaterial to that mission.

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#185

Post by AngryData »

While I can agree pennies are pretty useless, you don't print money to with the purpose of making money unless you are trying to fuck over your own economy. How many times does the currency get spent? Printing money in pursuit of profit is how you end up with billion dollar zimbabwe notes.

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#186

Post by los_angeles »

antcas wrote: post #127
swanson wrote: post #61

They should sell ads on the back of the penny. "A Penny Save is a Penny Earned - Chase Bank" A durable, historical, innovative new channel that also makes minting pennies profitable. Everyone loved collecting those state quarters they made a few years back. Of course, if this is successful we can move upstream to other coins and eventually dollar bills. Alternatively, we could allow rich people to put their face on t…

This is one of the best terrible ideas I've ever heard.

In Hong Kong paper money is designed and issued by private banks. Works fine.

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#187

Post by andyzweb »

thebooglebooski wrote: post #39
refurb wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the headline seems dumb. If the mint creates a $100 bill for $1.50, did they make $98.50? No. The purpose of the mint is to maintain the US currency. It's a cost center, not a profit center.

"Making" and "creating" are pretty ambiguous here. The mint literally creates physical money (coins). But in the end, the government actually does generate revenue, that gets calculated into a profit or loss for the country: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/seigniorage.asp $100 bills DO generate profit. Pennies generate a loss. If you look at all of the currency in aggregate, it generates positive revenue for the…

$100 bills generate close to 0 profit for the United States Treasury as they are sold to the Federal Reserve Banks at manufacturing cost.

However coins are sold by the United States Treasury to the Federal Reserve Banks at face value and can generate a profit/loss based on the difference between the face value and the cost of manufacturing.

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#188

Post by bxio »

greenshackle2 wrote: post #96
nostromo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Most purchases are not made with cash and fewer people are using cash every year. You're basically saying that all consumers should pay more with every purchase so that the mint can make https://www.frbsf.org/cash/files/figure-3-2015dcpc-share-of-...

Canada has already phased out the penny. Electronic transactions are not rounded. Cash transactions are rounded to the nearest nickel. It hasn't been a problem. As a customer you can 'abuse' this by paying with card when the price would be rounded-up, and cash when it is rounded down. But it's not really worth the effort.

This is the basic premise of the rounding system - it's really not worth the effort of quarreling over the gain or loss of two cents.

IMO Canada should've gotten rid of the nickel as well. One step at a time, I guess.

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#189

Post by slededit »

mortenjorck wrote: post #184
noer wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless I'm reading it wrong, they do think of it that way (on coins at least): >Fortunately, dimes and quarters are cheaper to make, costing less than their monetary value. So the Mint makes up the losses incurred on pennies and nickels with its 10- and 25-cent coins, and last year reported making $391.5 million in seigniorage. Also, paper money isn't produced by the Mint, it's produced by the Bureau of Engraving & P…

The author of the article thinks of it that way, but I have to think the article is written from a misguided premise. The Mint may publish those numbers in the form of a balance sheet as a novelty, but as far as I understand, they don’t govern the money supply any more than the Bureau of Engraving and Printing does. Their scope is to strike currency, and I would think the exact monetary value of it is immaterial to t…

Seigniorage used to be an important revenue generator for governments. This has largely subsided with the transition to bank notes which don't operate under the same market dynamics. But the historical inertia is still there.

Re: The US Mint lost $69M making pennies last year

#190

Post by ummonk »

rland wrote: post #182
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You claim this, but cash has its own costs. Such as running the risk of getting robbed, wrong change (and the retailer losing out), a safe, the costs and time included in physically getting the cash to the bank - either by employees driving it or paying a service to do it. Having enough change on hand can be an issue. Now, I don't know if all of this equals out to the same as the credit card fees, but it isn't like c…

Cash also has very diffuse benefits. It is anonymous, private, untraceable, and not able to be stolen or compromised without physical access.

And the police will confiscate it for their own use if they find you with a lot of it.
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