... it is (way past) time to retire the penny and the nickel.
Lookit -- I've got nothing against Lincoln or Jefferson, and it's not about the fact that they double dip when it comes to representation on our money.
Instead, it's about their seigniorage (and no, I did not know that word before learning about this circumstance) -- which is the difference between the face value of the coin and the cost to make it. Although it's been coming down, the 2014 report from the Mint is that pennies cost 1.7 cents to make ... and nickels cost 8 cents.
By the way, dimes and quarters *make* money, so to speak, at 3.9 and 9 cents respectively. I could see the argument that those two items alone cover the loss of the little coins ... but the statistic I don't have is the volume of each of the items produced to run that math to make sure that's true.
Regardless, in a world hurtling toward all electronic payments (this is *NOT* a plug for bit-coin), it's time to bite the bullet and start simplifying things. If we did, we'd be following in the footsteps of other countries, including Canada and Australia (which I recognize might ruffle some feathers of those who think we should be setting the lead and not following others [this is a *NOT* a dig at Rudy G]).
Here's the other thing -- I get that it is all but radical to suggest common sense to the behemoth known as the government, but someone's got to play the role of the child in the crowd who sees the damn emperor is naked.
Oh -- and I'm not suggesting this just because I have a collection of pennies and nickels (that's *my* photo accompanying this post) based on my coin-processing rules (about which I've posted before), which would put me in possession of precious items should the ban occur.
No more pennies! No more nickels! It's time for a seigniorage revolution!
A WHO'S WHO ON YOUR MONEY:
http://www.biography.com/people/groups/who-is-on-your-money
CANADA DID IT OVER TWO YEARS AGO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/your-money/canada-drops-the-penny-but-will-the-us.html?_r=0
MY COIN PROCESSING STRATEGY:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2013/09/random-thought-for-thursday-92613.html
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