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Stop making cents: US Mint moves forward with plans to kill the penny (apnews.com)

submitted 15 hours ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/usnews@beehaw.org

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The U.S. Mint has made its final order of penny blanks and plans to stop producing the coin when those run out, a Treasury Department official confirmed Thursday. This move comes as the cost of making pennies has increased markedly, by upward of 20% in 2024, according to the Treasury.

By stopping the penny’s production, the Treasury expects an immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the news.

Unpopular opinion here: The dollar needs to be revalued. I made this argument in a college column, but given the recent (and ongoing) inflationary environment, it holds even more true.

An ounce of gold was $34 until Nixon took us off the gold standard. I inherited a small amount of gold in the '90s and got $289 per ounce. It's now north of $3,000.

That's two orders of magnitude, just in 50-some years. Of course the penny makes no sense, but it's because the currency in aggregate has been so severely devalued.

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[–] SteevyT@beehaw.org 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

The nickle coats a bit under $0.13 cents to make each ifni remember correctly. Why aren't we trying to kill that too?

[–] BurningRiver@beehaw.org 2 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Counterpoint: How nice will it be without $.99 after every fucking thing that you ever buy ever?

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

If they take the route we did, paying by debit/credit you still pay the .99, but if cash then rounding rules apply

[–] drbluefall@toast.ooo 4 points 12 hours ago

It'll just be .95 now.

[–] Lembot_0002@lemm.ee 2 points 14 hours ago

Of course the penny makes no sense,

Yeah, but... Where is all that manufacturing efficiency increase that happened during the last 50 years? It should have decreased the price of the goods so pennies should be useful again. Oh, sorry. I forgot. Prices can't go down. It is impossible and is the harshest violation of all capitalist laws imaginable. Silly me.