Making the penny worthless. However I do not agree with getting rid of it. As I see retailer's rounding up. It simply needs to be made of a new material.

The current bills are just fine... I see no need for a $25 bill, it would be worthless. I do find a need for a $250 bill, as I am constantly dealing with large amounts of cash, it would be rather convenient. On the contrary, a $2.50 bill would also be convenient.

As for getting rid of coins, I say let's keep the penny but get rid of the nickel. I always get my nickels and quarters mixed up when hunting for coins in my wallet. I don't like the idea of getting rid of pennies because that would cause prices to round up.

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Ehyeh asher ehyeh - I am that I am
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1 Penny is worth 2c if it were to be melted down and sold as raw metal.  

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Yeah, but the energy required to melt it down would probably be closer to $1.    

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Quote: from N e o at 4:31 pm on April 24, 2008

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1 Penny is worth 2c if it were to be melted down and sold as raw metal.  

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Yeah, but the energy required to melt it down would probably be closer to $1.    

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Last I checked natural gas was cheap. Melt down 1,000,000 penny's at a time.

Post edited at 12:04 pm on June 26, 2008 by smartlake

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Hope
Hype

First, I think a 2 cent piece would help reduce faffing about with 1 cent pieces. This would not clog up pockets more, because the volume of the 2 cent coin (Euro) is less than that of 2 1 cent coins.

Also, I feel that there should be 1 and 2 dollar coins - someone mentioned that coins are easily lost, but notes are lost easily, but notes are made of a kind of paper, while coins are weighted, so they don't fly out of the pocket. Also, you can hear coins dropping out of a pocket, but notes fly away.

Someone from the England mentioned a 99p piece, but I'm afraid that would just cause retailers to reduce the prices to £x.98! Someone else mentioned melting down 1,000,000 1 cent pieces, but if what was said about 1 cent coins being worth 2 cent is true, then you would only make a $1000 profit. Also, bear in mind the amount of time and energy required to assemble 1,000,000 1 cent coins, then the cost of buying/renting a furnace, and melting metal takes a lot of energy. All this time and effort yielding $1000 would be spent much better working on an ordinary job, in my opinion.

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Is minic a bhris béal an duine a shrón.
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Quote: from PiXiE at 11:59 am on April 24, 2008

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Quote: from Tavis at 5:18 am on April 22, 2008

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Well, I'm not American, so I don't have much say, but I think here in Canada, we should get the 5 dollar coin. They have thought about it, but are still unsure. Coins ftw!!

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No!!! My wallet is heavy enough with those stupid toonies! Bring back the $2 bill!!!

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NEVA!!!

I'm pro-coin. I love having a 3 kg wallet, gets you in shape :P

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Someone else mentioned melting down 1,000,000 1 cent pieces, but if what was said about 1 cent coins being worth 2 cent is true, then you would only make a $1000 profit. Also, bear in mind the amount of time and energy required to assemble 1,000,000 1 cent coins, then the cost of buying/renting a furnace, and melting metal takes a lot of energy. All this time and effort yielding $1000 would be spent much better working on an ordinary job, in my opinion.

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Acquiring 1,000,000 pennies would not be a hard task. Any sizable bank is capable of exchanging $1000 for pennies. (If they don't have sufficient stock, it is possible to place an order.) The energy cost is roughly $.004 per penny. Pennies 1982 and earlier are pure copper, these pennies are worth approx. 3-4 cents per penny. Later pennies are made from zinc and a copper plating. When sold as scrap metal, this is worth about 2 cents.

Let's assume all of our pennies are later than 1982. If we were to melt 1,000,000 ($1000) pennies we would be left with $2000 in scrap metal. Our cost to melt these pennies would be approx. $400. Let's say the nearest scrap yard is going to cost me $25 in gas to get there. We are now making a $575 profit.

I've looking into purchasing the materials you would need to safely perform such a task. $1000 would easily get you the basics. In 2 sessions we've already made this money back.

Let's assume you melt down 1,000,000 pennies a day. Obviously you can't do them all at once, but you could get all of them done within a reasonable amount of time. Making $575 a day, working 5 days a week... We would make $2875 a week, $12,458 a month, $149,500 a year.

The average persons income in the united states is $32,000 a year.

149,500 USD
94,848 EUR
75,069 GBP
155,989 AUD
15.8603862 Million JPY

Please keep in mind that while the GBP may be worth twice as much as the US dollar... 75,069 pounds is worth a lot more in the US, and would buy you a lot more in the US than it would in the UK.

So I'd say that's one hell of an income for playing with fire all day.

Sorry for the lack of response, one thing drives out another from the brain, but I've looked into this a bit.

What you're doing would work very well in theory, but I don't think that it would work in practice.

First, I came accross an article from 2006 that said that a law has been passed making the melting of coins for profit illegal. Maybe if you asked a bank for 1,000,000 1 cent coins once, there wouldn't be any objections, but I think that they're going to get a bit suspicious if someone keeps coming back for more.

I've come across conflicting reports as to the value of a 1 cent coin. One article says 1.12 cent, another 1.6 cent, and another says 0.3 cent. I can't be sure on what is really the right figure, but if it's less than 2 cent, then the whole procedure wouldn't be as profitable.

In theory, it'd work out very well, but I don't think it would work in practice.

I did a little bit of googling, and here are 2 of the articles I found, if you're interested:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-12-14-melting-ban-usat_x.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060805153709AARcFFI

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Is minic a bhris béal an duine a shrón.
http://ie.youtube.com/user/SaigheadBhriste