Pennies are going away in the US

And part of the reason is because they cost twice as much to mint as they are worth?

First, why does that matter? What does any of that matter everything to government does costs money. That’s kind of the whole point. The government isn’t making $100 because it printed one.

And secondly, even if that was true, everything else costs much less to mint than its value, often by orders of magnitude, so the cost of the penny is just tiny fraction of the whole thing. So why does that matter?

So what am I missing here?

Or is it just one of those things that people keep repeating?

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Mellomarsha · 61-69, F

I think it's not so much the cost of minting each penny because they last so long. The amortized cost is very small per penny. If pennies were useful, they'd likely be kept.

It's just that inflation over the past century+ has rendered pennies useless in today's commerce. The nickel is now the most reasonable coin to fill the "smallest dimension" spot. When calculations result in penny-level costs such as sales tax, it's no burden on anyone to have the amount rounded to the nearest nickel. No more pennies? Lighter purses!

EBSVC · 41-45, T

@Mellomarsha Yea that makes sense. And we should do away with them it’s annoying and pointless.

But I meant more why do people keep saying that specific thing about cost to value and why does that matter

Mellomarsha · 61-69, F

@EBSVC Yes, why? It's beside the point. What matters is, is a nation deriving enough value from having a one-cent piece to justify having it? Value comes not only from recouping manufacturing cost, but also from increased convenience, efficiency, and the immeasurable feeling of well-being among the populace. The penny's demise is mostly a factor of its vanishing usefulness.

EBSVC · 41-45, T

@Mellomarsha This question is fully for my own knowledge

People said a thing about it

The thing they said doesn’t make any sense to me at all

I’m trying to figure out which one of us is wrong

That’s all

Mellomarsha · 61-69, F

@EBSVC Got it. My mistake: I guess I was answering to them, not you.

To you: I think you're right and they're wrong--because they've failed to consider that having the penny has become valueless in this day's exchange of money. No need to discuss cost and effort because they should be zero, having become irrelevant in the decision to discontinue.