The US needs to make some big changes to its currency. Pennies cost about 1.8 cents to make and are never used. Nickels cost over 9 cents to make and are barely used more often than pennies. Dollar bills are a lot more expensive to make than dollar coins. The government is throwing away A...

+253 The US needs to make some big changes to its currency. Pennies cost about 1.8 cents to make and are never used. Nickels cost over 9 cents to make and are barely used more often than pennies. Dollar bills are a lot more expensive to make than dollar coins. The government is throwing away A LOT of money, amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

They should just make all money in coins because they last a lot longer than paper.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That would be so inconvenient. Imagine how heavy your pockets would get after a while.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

As inconvienent as it is, she brings up a good point. Coins stay in circlation longer because they don't suffer from as much wear and tear. By changing bills to coins, the US would be saving quite a bit of money.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I wouldn't say ALL money, becaue like StickCaveman said it would be inconvenient. If we could start using the one dollar coins we already have, that would be great.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I seem to recall a documentary saying "money making is the most profitable business in America as it only takes 3cents to make each bill." I could be remembering the cost wrong, it was a couple years ago...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It costs about 4.2 cents to make one right now. That doesn't seem like a lot, but it actually is compared to dollar coins. Considering how many dollar bills are made every year, and how much longer dollar coins can stay in circulation, it's a huge waste of money.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But it'd cost the same to make 1 as it would to make 100 so you're pretty much winning at it in every scenario.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Making a one hundred dollar bill is understandable, as it's worth moe than 2,000 times what it costs to make. However, making a one dollar bill is sort of a waste. I said a dollar coin is cheaper to make before, which was a mistake. However, making dollar coins instead pays off in the long run because they stay in circulation much, much longer.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But if you make one bill of each denomination, you've spent about 25 cents but you've made $185.75. So I'm not really seeing the fail, but I'm simple.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yes, you are still making money, but you could be making much more by getting rid of the dollar bill. Basically, to make one dollar bill it costs 4.2 cents. Every few months, that bill will wear out and have to be replaced, costing another 4.2 cents. If you switch to dollar coins, you would only have to replace one about every 30 years, much more efficient. We wouldn't even have to make a lot of dollar coins to make the switch, as we already have thousands in the country that aren't being used simply because people like paper money. Also, because of the denomination effect people would be inclined to spend more money if we used coins as opposed to bills, which would help the economy.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Logical. Although everyone I know who has dollar coins doesn't spend them because they're hoping they'll be worth something someday.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That's unrealistic, we make probably 1000x as many $1 bills as $100 bills

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It's called a hypothetical, genius.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Just another way Canada is financially ahead of America.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah, I live in a country that makes no sense.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

no. who makes those pennies and nickels you convienently want to throw out? if they take out nickels, where will the 9c of tax money go for every small thing you buy? it adds up, and it adds up to a lot of negatives

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Why is 9c of tax going somewhere else bad?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Umm, what? Please rephrase that, I'm afraid I don't understand.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

if we stop production of nickels and pennies, there will be less jobs (which is bad). if there are no nickels or pennies, everything will either be rounded up in cost (which will make citizens angry), or have less money though GST or any taxes there are in your region (because we cannot give less than 10cents to taxes, those will be cut and the overall percentage will be lower). sorry if i sucked at explaining

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That is not actually true. Countries like Australia, New Zealand, England (I think), and many others discontinued their lowest value coins (most of which were roughly equal to the penny) a long time ago and no such things happened.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

they australian GDP dropped from ~1993-1995 and the penny was discontinued in 1992. new zealands dropped slightly in 92, but recovered quickly so it may not have affected it. UK also dipped from 84-86 but that is the bad news. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Img/280731/0080774.gif yeah, thats pretty bad.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UT04p5f7U

by Anonymous 12 years ago

CGPGrey is awesome.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The US needs to get loonies and toonies, they're much better than dollar bills.

by Anonymous 12 years ago