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View Full Version : How much does it currently cost the U.S. Mint to produce a penny?*

Fasglas
06-09-2017, 6:43am
According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Mint spent 1.5 cents to produce every one-cent coin, or penny, during fiscal year 2016. The rising cost of producing pennies has prompted calls to discontinue this coin altogether. The 1.5-cent production cost, however, represented a decline from the 2.4 cents it cost to produce a penny in 2011. Despite efforts to cut the costs of manufacturing the copper coin, it seems unlikely that the cost of making it will ever sink below one cent.

Source:*wsj.com
Olustee bus
06-09-2017, 6:47am
Am I correct that $1.65 trillion worth of pennies are in circulation.
04 commemorative
06-09-2017, 6:54am
I was told by a coin guy that it cost 3 cents per penny and that they will stop making them for that reason ....then you could melt them or bring them to scrap yard and get 3X the amount you might have.
bsmith
06-09-2017, 7:00am
I was told by a coin guy that it cost 3 cents per penny and that they will stop making them for that reason ....then you could melt them or bring them to scrap yard and get 3X the amount you might have.

3 cents to produce them doesn't mean there is 3 cents in material for scrap...
mrvette
06-09-2017, 7:08am
3 cents to produce them doesn't mean there is 3 cents in material for scrap...

Pennies have not been solid copper for decades now.....just copper plated.....

OLD copper pennies are in the bottom of my 5-6 gallon ceramic bucket setting there for some decades now.....

:issues:
04 commemorative
06-09-2017, 7:18am
3 cents to produce them doesn't mean there is 3 cents in material for scrap...

True,but not sure what copper is going for a lb
snide
06-09-2017, 8:28am
Canada stopped using/producing pennies a few years ago, simply because it was getting to expensive to mint pennies. Now, everything is rounded up or down to the nickel.
OddBall
06-09-2017, 8:43am
But if it's discontinued, how will I give my.02¢ worth?

Not sure if y'all rate a nickle. :D
Uncle Meat
06-09-2017, 8:53am
Pennies made prior to 1982 are 97% copper. It takes approximately 145 copper pennies to equal a lb. Not sure what categorization melted penny scrap copper is, but #1 & #2 scrap copper goes for $1.85-$2.20 a lb. You do the math.

U.M.
Olustee bus
06-09-2017, 9:24am
Canada stopped using/producing pennies a few years ago, simply because it was getting to expensive to mint pennies. Now, everything is rounded up or down to the nickel.

Makes way too much sense for us to do something like that.
mrvette
06-09-2017, 9:25am
Pennies made prior to 1982 are 97% copper. It takes approximately 145 copper pennies to equal a lb. Not sure what categorization melted penny scrap copper is, but #1 & #2 scrap copper goes for $1.85-$2.20 a lb. You do the math.

U.M.

1.45/lb so sell for only 2 bux/lb......woopie doo, I dun made 20 bux......

I can get 3-4 packs of toilet paper for that.......:issues::lol:
Olustee bus
06-09-2017, 9:26am
Pennies made prior to 1982 are 97% copper. It takes approximately 145 copper pennies to equal a lb. Not sure what categorization melted penny scrap copper is, but #1 & #2 scrap copper goes for $1.85-$2.20 a lb. You do the math.

U.M.


What you would lose due to overhead you would make up for it in Volume:seasix:.
VatorMan
06-09-2017, 9:39am
Makes way too much sense for us to do something like that.

Not exactly sure, but I read quite a while ago that getting rid of the penny would increase inflation by some means. If you look at all the transactions in a typical year, all those pennies would add up to real money.
Kerrmudgeon
06-09-2017, 10:28am
Not exactly sure, but I read quite a while ago that getting rid of the penny would increase inflation by some means. If you look at all the transactions in a typical year, all those pennies would add up to real money.

That hasn't happened in Canada. I used to be against it, but not having them rattle around in my pockets is worth it. They round up or down to the nearest nickle. Some times you make a few cents, sometimes it costs you a few. All evens out in the end.
Besides with our Looney and Twonie we still have a lot of change to deal with.
But saving in a change jar adds up pretty quick now. http://s6.tinypic.com/2nhomkw_th.jpg
Dave
06-09-2017, 9:44pm
It doesn't cost the mint a bloody thing. The question is how much it costs the taxpayers. Each one puts us farther into debt. We take out a mortgage to smash some metal into a coin.
mrvette
06-10-2017, 7:26am
You're acting like cash transactions rule the world...

In reality, the only things inflated (to the nearest $0.05) would be things bought with cash, and I'd bet that's a very small portion of our spending country-wide.

It's comical already, I used to have a many gallon old european brass milk jug full to the top with loose change, mostly silver, as pennies were dumped into a white ceramic 5+ gallon jug.....still got the pennies, but the loose change was counted out some years ago......3500 bux

:dance:

it took maybe a dozen years to accumulate that, next to the doorway and dump the change when walking into the house....it was SO heavy needed a hand truck to move it..... since then, been about 16 years since we emptied it, the change is nearly nothing, maybe a inch deep if that.....

:leaving: