Obama Looking for Change, Wants to Pinch Pennies, Nick Nickels Penny-pinching President Obama wants your loose change. In a budget proposal that aims to make government more efficient, Obama floated the idea of either phasing out penny and nickel coins or using cheaper metals to produce them. David Zalubowski / ASSOCIATED PRESS Pennies at the U.S. Mint in Denver. President Obama wants to phase them out, along with nickels, because they cost more than face value to produce. The fiscal 2015 budget, released on Tuesday, points out that the coins' manufacturing and circulation have not changed in decades and that the Treasury Department has been reviewing the coins' production. Obama has proposed similar reviews in the past but the measures stalled despite not being partisan points of contention. The budget does not include a specific cost savings figure for the potential changes but it identifies the rise of electronic commerce as a reason to review the coins' makeup and distribution. Last year's budget had pegged the cost of manufacturing a penny at two cents and the price of a nickel at 11 cents. Past attempts to change penny and nickel production have faced resistance from interest groups, such as the Coin Laundry Association, which warned its small-business owner members would be hurt. - Reuters
I wouldn't impeach Obama for this, but the Coin Laundry Association probably would. Now, lying to the American people about Obamacare, well...
Like it or not, the smaller denominations are just too costly to keep producing them. I'm not a fan of e-commerce, and phasing-out smaller denominations is a tough pill to swallow for some, but IMO it makes sense. There's a joke about not making cents there, but republicans pretty much have the corner on that particular market.
Well, I've seen a few really stupid comments here. You all figure it out. Indeed the idea of getting rid of the cent coin is not new. They DO cost more than one cent to produce and we produce billions. Same goes for the nickel. More than five cents to produce. We have been"lavishly spending" on the manufacture of these coins for some time.
The argument for eliminating the production of the cent has been around for quite a while. Back in the late 60s/early 70s they wanted to change the composition of the cent because of rising costs, and eventually did alter it, in 1982. However, zinc is currently being used and it's a hazardous substance. Jarden Zinc Products is currently the sole provider for the "blanks" used to create American cents and, of course, has it's own lobbyists working hard in DC countering any efforts to eliminate the production of said cents. In 1990, Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) introduced the "Price Rounding Act", which would have eliminated production of the cent and rounded prices to the nearest nickel. He also introduced the "Legal Tender Modernization Act" in 2001 and the "Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation" in 2006. But of course, any of the bad effects of any of those things above, as well as any other grievance, real or imaginary, is Obama's fault, and he should be impeached forthwith.
Keep in mind if eliminated the US Mint's Overhead being allocated to the production of that coinage will be transferred to the other coinage remaining in production. So the overall savings will not equal the $0.01 per unit loss reported for the cent or the $0.06 per unit loss reported for the Nickel.