Will the U.S. mint will stop making pennies in 2017 ?

MrNovice said:

If we scrapped the dollar bills and went to $1 and $2 and maybe even $5 coins, wouldn't they be easier to counterfeit than bills? I guess most counterfeiters (?) do $20, $50 and $100 bills though, never heard of anyone couterfeiting change unless you count those old quarter size slugs used in vending machines. Probably not profitable to counterfeit a $1 or $2 coin?

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I also don't remember hearing of anyone trying to counterfeit coins, seems like it would not be worth their effort, unless maybe they tried to counterfeit rarer coins like the 1909 S VDB for example.

It's interesting that on our local noonday news today they had a news story about how minting the penny causes the government to lose $45 million a year but they did not mention anything about discontinuing the penny, just how they have been trying to figure out how to cut the costs of producing them.

(I have read an article where there has been continuing consideration about discontinuing the penny, but like someone else related, it would take convincing Congress)

Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters are worthless nowadays.
In 1900 a handful of them could get you a hotel room in NYC,
now a 1/4 pound of them can't even get you a quarter-pounder (burger).
Makes no sense. Time to make some coins of value like some other countries.

yandosan said:

Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters are worthless nowadays.
In 1900 a handful of them could get you a hotel room in NYC,
now a 1/4 pound of them can't even get you a quarter-pounder (burger).
Makes no sense. Time to make some coins of value like some other countries.

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Sorry, but . I guess you haven't heard of inflation where people worked all year for about $450 and a pack of cigs was 10 cents. Wages and prices have gone up quite a bit from the 1900's.

Swinglow said:

I have 450lbs of copper pennies if you're interested. LOL

I'm dead serious. I just had to move them all to the new house and it was NOT fun.

If the gov. loses money doing something, you can bank on them continuing to do so, even if a viable, more efficient process is thrown in their lap. Just look at those stupid dollar coins, piled up in treasury vaults b/c nobody wants them. Because it's "law" they keep producing them despite no demand.

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Good God! I wonder what that is worth in face value? And double that for copper value. You can't sell the pennies for copper value until they do away with the penny I have read. I would still hang onto them. And maybe pass them onto the Grandkids?

Inflation is a separate issue. No one is disputing that people made much less
salary 100 years ago. The point is that US coins nowadays are generally worthless, and an alternative should be considered.

yandosan said:

Inflation is a separate issue. No one is disputing that people made much less
salary 100 years ago. The point is that US coins nowadays are generally worthless, and an alternative should be considered.

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Yeah, but the inflation has been relative for the most part thus devaluing the coins compared to what they were once worth. I like your idea, but losing a $100 coin would hurt pretty badly when the electric bill came...although it would awesome finding one someone lost. Think we should go back to 50 cent piece minimum? What denomination coins would you propose to replace bills?

I like the thought, only because we do detect and it would be much more lucrative. But losing a high dollar coin could be quite a hit. As I suppose it would have been way back then too.

GKL said:

Good point, while trying to search for more definite info I found out that back in 1974 they minted well over a million aluminum pennies, but they never got approved for release into circulation and the idea was scrapped.

Could you imagine hunting aluminum pennies ? I guess they might have given a sound close to an aluminum pull-tab

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Did you guys know the US mint experimented with GLASS PENNIES! There is 1 complete/unbroken example known to exist. Yes our govt is so stupid, they actually had the idea that a glass penny would work. So you see, the Zinc penny, by comparison, was pretty smart.

cooldood said:

Will never work because the copper is worth more than a penny so you could go to the bank get 100k of pennies melt them down and go to recycle center and return for 200k

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Any idea how much $100k in pennies weighs? That's 10million pennies @ 143 to a pound=69,930lbs or approx. 35 tons. Hope your truck has some killer suspension and your garage floor, some heavy duty concrete!

MrNovice said:

If we scrapped the dollar bills and went to $1 and $2 and maybe even $5 coins, wouldn't they be easier to counterfeit than bills? I guess most counterfeiters (?) do $20, $50 and $100 bills though, never heard of anyone couterfeiting change unless you count those old quarter size slugs used in vending machines. Probably not profitable to counterfeit a $1 or $2 coin?

Click to expand...

There are fakes of just about every denomination of US coins ever produced. They don't just make 1 fake, they make millions. I have a large collection of all different types from Wheat Cents to $20 gold pieces.
See here:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...60112998578.html?spm=a2700.7724838.0.0.ubcLkd

FAKE BULLION:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...60015571468.html?spm=a2700.7724838.0.0.voqdYI

GKL said:

I also don't remember hearing of anyone trying to counterfeit coins, seems like it would not be worth their effort, unless maybe they tried to counterfeit rarer coins like the 1909 S VDB for example.

It's interesting that on our local noonday news today they had a news story about how minting the penny causes the government to lose $45 million a year but they did not mention anything about discontinuing the penny, just how they have been trying to figure out how to cut the costs of producing them.

(I have read an article where there has been continuing consideration about discontinuing the penny, but like someone else related, it would take convincing Congress)

Click to expand...

See above for examples of fakes. Browse that site and you'll find it all.

yandosan said:

Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters are worthless nowadays.
In 1900 a handful of them could get you a hotel room in NYC,
now a 1/4 pound of them can't even get you a quarter-pounder (burger).
Makes no sense. Time to make some coins of value like some other countries.

Click to expand...

Easy example to understand how precious metals hold their value over time:

Lets say you could travel back in time to say, 1935. Someone tells you to take your pick between a $20 bill and a $20 gold double eagle.

Now fast forward to 2016. If you had chosen the $20 paper note, how much would you be able to buy with it. In other words, how much of that $20 notes purchasing power has been retained over time? Not much b/c $20 doesn't buy you much these days.

Now, lets take that $20 gold coin. If you were to sell that coin today, on the low end, you'd be looking at around $1100. What can you buy for $1100 today? A whole lot more than you can with the original $20 note.

That's why people hold precious metals...to PRESERVE WEALTH, NOT TO CREATE IT.

Same can be said for a Dollar bill from 1964 and 4 Quarters from 1964. If you held the paper dollar and tried to spend it today, you wouldn't even get a half gallon of gas. If you kept the 4 silver quarters from the same year, you'd be able to buy at least 5 gallons of gas today.


This is currency debasement at it's finest. Removing us from the gold standard is what paved the way for reckless government spending which is prevalent today. After all, if you can only spend as much as you have gold to back, it puts a kink on your spending plans.

Redbug said:

Good God! I wonder what that is worth in face value? And double that for copper value. You can't sell the pennies for copper value until they do away with the penny I have read. I would still hang onto them. And maybe pass them onto the Grandkids?

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Every 50lbs is approx. $75 face value so about $675. I have no interest in keeping them. I'd rather have a single gold coin that takes up way less space and doesn't break my back moving

NectarDetector said:

They just deteriorate.

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10-4 This was an old 3 Stooges/Moe Howard quote "And How!". A feeble attempt at a joke, lol.

Swinglow said:

Did you guys know the US mint experimented with GLASS PENNIES! There is 1 complete/unbroken example known to exist. Yes our govt is so stupid, they actually had the idea that a glass penny would work. So you see, the Zinc penny, by comparison, was pretty smart.


Any idea how much $100k in pennies weighs? That's 10million pennies @ 143 to a pound=69,930lbs or approx. 35 tons. Hope your truck has some killer suspension and your garage floor, some heavy duty concrete!



There are fakes of just about every denomination of US coins ever produced. They don't just make 1 fake, they make millions. I have a large collection of all different types from Wheat Cents to $20 gold pieces.
See here:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...60112998578.html?spm=a2700.7724838.0.0.ubcLkd

FAKE BULLION:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...60015571468.html?spm=a2700.7724838.0.0.voqdYI



See above for examples of fakes. Browse that site and you'll find it all.



Easy example to understand how precious metals hold their value over time:

Lets say you could travel back in time to say, 1935. Someone tells you to take your pick between a $20 bill and a $20 gold double eagle.

Now fast forward to 2016. If you had chosen the $20 paper note, how much would you be able to buy with it. In other words, how much of that $20 notes purchasing power has been retained over time? Not much b/c $20 doesn't buy you much these days.

Now, lets take that $20 gold coin. If you were to sell that coin today, on the low end, you'd be looking at around $1100. What can you buy for $1100 today? A whole lot more than you can with the original $20 note.

That's why people hold precious metals...to PRESERVE WEALTH, NOT TO CREATE IT.

Same can be said for a Dollar bill from 1964 and 4 Quarters from 1964. If you held the paper dollar and tried to spend it today, you wouldn't even get a half gallon of gas. If you kept the 4 silver quarters from the same year, you'd be able to buy at least 5 gallons of gas today.


This is currency debasement at it's finest. Removing us from the gold standard is what paved the way for reckless government spending which is prevalent today. After all, if you can only spend as much as you have gold to back, it puts a kink on your spending plans.



Every 50lbs is approx. $75 face value so about $675. I have no interest in keeping them. I'd rather have a single gold coin that takes up way less space and doesn't break my back moving

Click to expand...

Please note: the following comments are NOT meant to start a political discussion as that is not allowed on the forum, but this discussion of counterfeiting reminded me how a Major Jordan wrote about the little known lend-lease scandal that happened back in 1944 when our government covertly send some currency engraving plates and supplies for the USSR to print US currency. I mention this as how it relates to the inflation aspect of the discussion and how that incident likely helped to devalue our currency back then by how much they printed.

GKL said:

Please note: the following comments are NOT meant to start a political discussion as that is not allowed on the forum, but this discussion of counterfeiting reminded me how a Major Jordan wrote about the little known lend-lease scandal that happened back in 1944 when our government covertly send some currency engraving plates and supplies for the USSR to print US currency. I mention this as how it relates to the inflation aspect of the discussion and how that incident likely helped to devalue our currency back then by how much they printed.

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To be banned with you, R...should be, something!

MrNovice said:

To be banned with you, R...should be, something!

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no political pirates either ?

(my caution was more for the benefit of newbies who might not yet be aware about avoiding the "political" aspect of topics )