Lose the Penny, Then Dump the Nickel

Now that we are getting rid of the penny, why not get rid of the nickel—or dime and quarter?  Why have any physical coins or paper money?

“All one needs to see for examples of financial irresponsibility is to look at the cost of producing these coins to determine we have had people asleep at the mint. Each penny currently costs 3.4 cents to manufacture, and nickels cost between 13 and 14 cents each. Imagine opening a store and selling things for two bucks that cost you five dollars each.

No one benefits from this, unlike the person getting the item you sell for under your cost. Here it is just another unfunded expense piled on to the national debt.  We are losing lots of money by making pennies and nickels.  Stop the waste.

Lose the Penny, Then Dump the Nickel

Posted by Bruce Bialosky, Flashreport,  4/13/25    https://www.flashreport.org/blog/2025/04/13/lose-the-penny-then-dump-the-nickel/https://www.flashreport.org/blog/2025/04/13/lose-the-penny-then-dump-the-nickel/

There has been much angst for years over the continuation of minting some American coins. Usage of the penny has gradually evaporated, and it has been years since a nickel buys anything. Someone finally said enough is enough, let’s stop minting pennies, but the nickel should follow as well.

All one needs to see for examples of financial irresponsibility is to look at the cost of producing these coins to determine we have had people asleep at the mint. Each penny currently costs 3.4 cents to manufacture, and nickels cost between 13 and 14 cents each. Imagine opening a store and selling things for two bucks that cost you five dollars each.

No one benefits from this, unlike the person getting the item you sell for under your cost. Here it is just another unfunded expense piled on to the national debt.

I could understand if these coins had some useful function other than to occupy a change drawer slot in a cash register or someone’s piggy bank. It used to be stores would have a little bowl out where people would leave pennies for the next person if they were paying cash for something and didn’t have that extra penny. That quaint custom has disappeared.

How many people actually carry around any of these coins? For years I haven’t carried around anything smaller than a quarter. Those are mainly for parking meters. They actually work better than credit cards most of the time.

I don’t know a person under the age of forty who can even tell you who is on the penny or nickel (Lincoln and Jefferson) because they don’t carry them and have no use for them. They find them a nuisance.

The State of California recently contacted a restaurant client of mine who they want to audit regarding the collection of sales tax. The State considers you their agent and you are liable for collecting and reporting their money. I told the gentleman it was a giant waste of time. Any restaurant that is a client of mine gets 95% of its sales paid by credit cards; thus, it goes directly to their bank account. There is nothing to hide. I told him this restaurant is particularly aimed at the under 35-year-old crowd and they pay for everything with their credit or debit cards. I also told him I am the only person getting anything out of this audit.

Statistics bear that out. A study by Capital One states that only 12% of in-store purchases are made with cash. The other payments are made in some form of electronic payments. And those means are growing in methods like debit cards, electronic wallets etc. People who use these methods are still paying their bills reflecting pennies and nickels, such as a bill of $47.81 or $16.47.

That does not account for payments made via credit card or check. Your internet or cell phone bill will still be on your credit card statement reflecting those pennies and nickels. But they won’t exist in their current form which costs all of us.

There are retailers who reason bizarrely that people will stop coming if we cut out these coins. I believe that retailers should still be open to taking cash, but they will simply need to adjust their pricing to reflect the last digit of the sale being zero ($4.90 or $8.20).

This is a decision long past due. Give President Trump credit for calling it like it is and returning us to common sense. In the same way we finally got the Right to Try bill passed in his first term, maybe he will get this done too.

A few million saved here, a few million saved there and all of a sudden, we are talking about real money.