Published: August 20, 2011
David L. Ganz is a member of the Board of Freeholders of Bergen County, N.J., and a former president of the American Numismatic Association.In this time of fiscal strain, Americans can find some savings by simply looking in their purses and pockets.
Because of increases in commodity prices, it now costs more than one cent to make a penny and more than five cents to make a nickel. The United States Mint, sensitive to the risks of changing the composition and feel of our coinage, has been reluctant to revise the composition of these two coins.
But that is precisely what the Mint — which last year produced 4 billion pennies and 490 million nickels — should do.
While eliminating the penny has been debated for decades, it is not a realistic option; the penny has tremendous symbolic value and removing it would have the effect of raising prices — particularly for people of modest means, who use currency the most — because retailers would round up. Reducing the size of the coins is impractical because of the cost of recalibrating vending machines and the need to ensure that the coin is not interchangeable with any foreign coin.
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