[HN Gopher] US to Stop Producing Pennies in 2026
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US to Stop Producing Pennies in 2026
Author : bdev12345
Score : 15 points
Date : 2025-07-10 20:58 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.axios.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.axios.com)
| gnabgib wrote:
| Discussion (36 points, 2 months ago, 25 comments)
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44069037
| svieira wrote:
| The 12 1/2 cent coin suggestion is brilliant and deserves more
| discussion, so I'm bringing it back up here.
|
| For those who don't know, the US Dollar was based on
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_real which was often
| broken into eight pieces to make change (hence, "pieces of
| eight" and "two bits"). Might as well bring it back while
| inflation lets us be nostalgic.
| bediger4000 wrote:
| I'm not against the end result, but I was taught that we lived in
| a Republic, not a dictatorship. This should have been done
| legislatively, not by executive fiat.
| Amezarak wrote:
| Did Congress mandate the production of the penny? Or was the
| authority over what coins are produced (and how many of them)
| given to the Treasury?
| bediger4000 wrote:
| I think that's a bit beside the point. We all use physical
| money. An executive that respected the vox populi would leave
| this for the legislature, where everybody has elected
| representatives that can debate, wheel-and-deal, and act on
| that voice of the people.
|
| There's an awful lot you can do, but shouldn't.
| Amezarak wrote:
| The President is also an elected representative. This isn't
| beside the point: if it's not legislatively mandated, this
| is American democracy working as designed.
|
| If the voice of the people is the concern, there should
| just be a referendum. I for one would vote to save the
| penny.
| Diti wrote:
| If the USA was a dictatorship, I don't think you would be able
| to criticize your government on the internet.
| cute_boi wrote:
| It isn't dictatorship, but it is turning into dictatorless
| dystopia
| bradac56 wrote:
| 1.) We stopped being a republic after the civil war removed
| state rights to secession.
|
| 2.) Congress holds the rights to the spending of the purse but
| not the making of the money in the purse.
|
| We used to actually teach this stuff in schools but then the
| Boomers took power.
| NoFunPedant wrote:
| 1. The states never had the right to secede. U.S.
| Constitution, Article VI: "This Constitution, and the Laws of
| the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof
| ... shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in
| every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the
| Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary
| notwithstanding."
|
| Article I, Section 10: "No State shall enter into any Treaty,
| Alliance, or Confederation .... No State shall, without the
| Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or
| Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or
| Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or
| engage in War ..."
|
| It is abundantly clear in the records of the Constitutional
| Convention, the text of the Constitution, the debates on
| ratification, and the Federalist Papers that the intent of
| the Constitution was to create a supreme national government,
| not a league of states.
|
| 2. The Constitution explicitly gives Congress the authority
| to regulate currency. Article I, Section 8: "The Congress
| shall have power ... To coin Money [and] regulate the Value
| thereof ..."
| ruralfam wrote:
| While visiting New Zealand in the 90's I had my first encounter
| with no pennies. Everything was rounded up/down. Was an initial
| shock that came to make tons of cents (intended). Glad the US is
| doing this.
| bryanlarsen wrote:
| From Canadian experience, this is one of those things where the
| opponents of the change are much louder, appearing much more
| numerous than they actually are. In the end this was a widely
| popular move.
| monsieurgaufre wrote:
| I agree. From what i've seen, people use debit/credit cards /
| their phone, so the rounding doesn't even occur.
| mk_stjames wrote:
| This triggered a thought which led me to doing a quick
| calculation that I haven't done in years...
|
| So, modern pennies are just copped plated zinc. But up to 1982
| (barring some small interruptions like the 1943 steel penny) they
| were 95% copper. There was roughly 2.95 grams of copper in each
| penny.
|
| Current copper prices seems to be approximately $12.31/kg or
| $0.0123/gram. That is about $0.036 per pre-1982 penny. Round down
| to 3 cents/penny to account for recycling costs. If you took all
| pre-1982 copper pennies you could out of circulation yourself you
| could make a 3x return!
|
| (I have no idea how many pre-1982 pennies are still in
| circulation and it seems like this isn't public knowledge.
| Something tells me this endeavour to recycle them, as an
| individual, would never be fruitful. Also... my memory is that
| there is some question of legality in destroying currency en
| masse...)
| Neywiny wrote:
| I recall there being people who hoard buckets of copper pennies
| for this exact purpose. You can't melt them down unless it's
| for an educational purpose, so they have buckets and buckets
| waiting for the law to "change" (pun intended).
| philipkglass wrote:
| The metal content value of nickels surged past the face value
| in 2006, so the law was updated to prevent this very idea:
|
| https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/20061214-united-s...
|
| https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2007/04/16/E7-7088...
|
| https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-31/subtitle-B/chapter-I/p...
|
| _Pursuant to this authority, the Secretary of the Treasury has
| determined that, to protect the coinage of the United States,
| it is necessary to generally prohibit the exportation, melting,
| or treatment of 5-cent and one-cent coins minted and issued by
| the United States. The Secretary has made this determination
| because the values of the metal contents of 5-cent and one-cent
| coins are in excess of their respective face values, raising
| the likelihood that these coins will be the subject of
| recycling and speculation._
| somanyphotons wrote:
| I wish they would get rid of all coins - just issue smaller
| denomination notes if you really must have them.
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