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The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies

theatlantic.com

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Re: The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies

#11

Post by toast0 »

rayiner wrote: post #7

[flagged]

Many issues probably don't need the lengthy deliberative processes that stall or delay change. But the problems with the penny have been apparent for years, maybe even decades. There was plenty of time to study the issue, observe how other economies have made similar transitions and figure out how to make it work in an orderly fashion. Instead, we have a change by executive decree, with no apparent planning. Will the mint start making pennies again in the next administration or the next year? It's certainly possible.

In some states, there's legal uncertainty for retailers that operate without pennies. Planning and forwarning likely would have encouraged states to amend laws to provide for penniless retailers. Uniform nationwide rounding could have been an option, interstate commerce and all that.

Some sort of plan for the pennies themselves might be nice, although maybe some sort of plan could have helped pennies circulate more, reducing the need to mint several billion pennies every year.

Re: The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies

#12

Post by altairprime »

rayiner wrote: post #7

[flagged]

Technically, it would have been better for the government to hand a tax on gross business revenue less labor costs, in order to give the Fed a lever to lower price levels inflation and raise household spending power so that the loss of pennies was of as little significance to households as it was to the Mint. Obviously, that would have required years of unpalatable and unsexy planning work that can’t be converted into political capital, but the outcome would have been that pennies become more relevant by lower prices and/or that pennies become less relevant by higher spending power. Oh well.

Re: The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies

#13

Post by toast0 »

joering2 wrote: post #6

Supposedly it cost gov 4 cents to mint 1. Does it have to be done with zinc tho? Why not plastic or some cheap material? Although you may be able to 3D print a penny at home (just like it being made from zinc can actually stop someone), but just like with a real one, its not like you will show up at your local bank with $1 million dollar worth to deposit.

Zinc is the cheap material though. It replaced copper (except for the foil outer), when copper was too expensive.

If there was a suitable and even less expensive metal, I think it might be reasonable to switch again. But if we have to rebuild coin handling to use a plastic penny, I think it's necessary to consider the costs and benefits of a vastly different material versus the costs and benefits of abandoning pennies.

Re: The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies

#14

Post by rayiner »

altairprime wrote: post #12
rayiner wrote: post #7

[flagged]

Technically, it would have been better for the government to hand a tax on gross business revenue less labor costs, in order to give the Fed a lever to lower price levels inflation and raise household spending power so that the loss of pennies was of as little significance to households as it was to the Mint. Obviously, that would have required years of unpalatable and unsexy planning work that can’t be converted int…

> Obviously, that would have required years of unpalatable and unsexy planning work that can’t be converted into political capital

It also probably wouldn't have resulted in any actual action. The problem proponents of "unpalatable and unsexy planning work" confront is that their approach is immobilized by its own weight. Analysis, bikeshedding, and litigation destroys the ability to actually do anything.

Re: The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies

#15

Post by tomhow »

thegrim33 wrote: post #8
internet2000 wrote: post #2

> Many Americans—and many people who, though not American, enjoy watching from a safe distance as predictable fiascoes unfold in this theoretical superpower from week to week—find themselves now pondering one question. This is way too much spite for an article about coins. Lord.

[flagged]

It's not acceptable to attack fellow community members like this on HN. Critiquing the article is fine, as is flagging it if you think it's unfit for HN. But personal attacks are not OK, no matter who it is or why you think it's justifiable. Please read the guidelines and make an effort to observe them if you want to keep participating here.

Re: The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies

#16

Post by dehrmann »

akeck wrote: post #4

According to Marketplace.org, pennies are treasure for some businesses now because the regional Feds aren't distributing them. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/11/13/businesses-face...

I've been listening to Marketplace less because of stories like this. The half cent went away, the penny went away, other countries have discontinued currencies. You keep accepting pennies and you round when people pay in cash. At some point, your register will do the rounding for you. There isn't really a story here.

Re: The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies

#17

Post by dimensional_dan »

joering2 wrote: post #6

Supposedly it cost gov 4 cents to mint 1. Does it have to be done with zinc tho? Why not plastic or some cheap material? Although you may be able to 3D print a penny at home (just like it being made from zinc can actually stop someone), but just like with a real one, its not like you will show up at your local bank with $1 million dollar worth to deposit.

The other option would be to rebase the currency such that a single penny was a meaningful unit of money again. One potential such way would be to issue new paper notes which represent the old note with a decimal place move such that $10 becomes $100. This has been done before but might not be a great idea for the USA.
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