A dollar for your thoughts about.....pennies

Oct 01, 2021

The cost of minting a U.S. penny is 2.41 cents. (1)

The Canadians have stopped minting theirs, at a savings of $11 million (CDN) per year. Cash transactions there now are rounded up or down to the nearest nickel. (2)

Keep in mind that the population of Canada is roughly one-tenth that of the United States. (3)

By extrapolation, then, the U.S. might save roughly $100 million annually if it were to cease minting pennies. (As I like to say: “That’ll buy lunch.”)

A U.S. nickel, too, is a losing proposition when it comes to minting. Each one costs 11.18¢ to produce. (At least dimes and quarters still seem to come out in the black.) (1)

The Canadians also have withdrawn their $1 and $2 bills from circulation and replaced them with comparable coins. (4)

It costs 6.8 cents each to print U.S. one and two dollar bills. (5) (Yes, we still have $2 bills. Somewhere.)

We have around $1 billion of dollar coins minted and in storage. (6) (When was the last time you even saw one?)

So…….maybe we should do what the Canadians did. Stop printing dollar bills. Ya think?

Dollar coins for the laundromat would make my life sooooo much easier. Parking meters, too.

But wait! There’s more!

Those clever Canadians also have gotten out of the paper/cotton medium altogether for their circulating bank notes. Folding money now is more durable because it’s……...plastic! Polymer, to be specific. (7)

But wait. There’s still more!

When was the last time you even used cash? Credit and debit cards rule, no?

And now the world is plunging into the brave new world of cryptocurrencies. Oh, and blockchain.

Perhaps the pragmatic Canadian steps with currency soon will be old school.

Which will make the U.S. approach old-old school.

So hey. You got change for a dollar?

Just don’t give me any pennies.

Sources:

(1) https://www.thepricer.org/how-much-does-it-cost-to-make-a-penny/population us

(2) https://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-mint/phasing-out-the-penny-6900002

(3) https://www.indexmundi.com/factbook/compare/canada.united-states/demographics

(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Canadian_dollar