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132 Comments
- JesusFaction, on 10/12/2007, -5/+77Since when does the U.S. Mint draft and pass legislation?
- Jaq524, on 10/12/2007, -5/+45Wow, JohnyD, terrible place to forget an "e"
On a side note, credit card transactions in Japan are actually much less common than they are here. They pay with cash much more.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo#Buy
The more ya know :) - Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -9/+41Welcome to knee-jerk America. Rather than fix a problem, we make a stupid law. Obey or die, citizen.
- pmghost, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25What about places that take 51 cents and use your penny to make a souvenir
- Crass22, on 10/12/2007, -5/+231 word: LOL!!!!!!!
I mean think about it, the government spends more on the resources involved in making money, than the value of the money. Does that not seem backwards? (Hint:We are loosing money by making nickels) - BenWhitey, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21I thought this was already illegal. Isn't it defacing the currency?
- Bob042, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16"Heat wave hits America, Economy in turmoil"
- m1ch184, on 10/12/2007, -9/+23The simple fact that they felt a need to pass this law due to the fact that the metal is worth more than the coin proves something is very wrong with our country.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+20@Urusai
How do you fix the problem? - JohnyD, on 10/12/2007, -12/+24I'm not certain about American currency (pennis to be more exact) but Canadian pennies aren't made exclusivly of copper anymore. New pennies you can melt in a stove at pretty reasonable temperatures... old copper pennies just glow bright red.
Yeah.... I still do heat pennies in stoves. Been doin it for 28 years... :) - Lowry, on 10/12/2007, -8/+19I thought congress made laws, not the US Mint.
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14The point of any modern currency is now that its parts are less valuable than the face value. The way copper keeps going up, it keeps eating into that margin. Now, the currency is more valuable as smelted metal than as currency. Therefore, fire up the furnaces.
On a side note, I remember hearing a story from a black/silver smith when I was growing up. When the US made true precious metal currency(silver, for example), people would shave the outside edges just a little and keep the scrapings. As time went on, you built up enough for something like jewelry. This led to the addition of ridges to the edges of US currency so that this practice could be easily detected. - petroK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12This is a perfect example of why we should just get rid of the penny all together.
- vuke69, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11@Jelfish
If you actually read the page you linked, you would know that no, it isn't illegal.
It is only illegal to deface currency if you intend to fraudulently use it afterwords. - kweee, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13They should make pennies out of chocolate.
- thatsmyaibo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12I thought it was illegal to destroy any US currency if used in a fraudulent way only? And why is the word "melting" in caps on the headline?
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=77334 - VcTrMASO, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12The pennies that are compressed are replaced by the government. The machines have a sticker on the side of them saying they have a permit to crush the pennies.
- SundayTrain, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12@BenWhitey
Dude, so when I go to Disneyland and put my penny in one of those souvenir machines that flattens it and then puts Mickey Mouse on it I'm getting arrested?
Yeah, OK :) - OrderSponge, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14Crass22: the government loses money on everything it does. That's why we have taxes. It's not a corporation.
- mancat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Yes, but it is now illegal for the train to run over them. Watch out, Burlington Northern!
- 4UIDigg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8WTF, if I earn the money, I should be able to do whatever the f*** I want with it. Isn't that what money is all about???
- simmonsdd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9it's not the copper. (only plating on the pennies.) the core is zinc. It's zinc that's through the roof. I'm pretty sure on this since I was considering melting down some pennies recently. Thanks digg for keeping me out of jail. I'd hate to have to explain to my serial murderer cell mate what I was in for.
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12Pennies in the US are mainly made of materials OTHER than copper. The copper is mainly a coating for historical reasons. If you get a hold of one, scrape the edge a bit and it will start to become very non-copperish soon.
- vyking, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7god forbid that our currency actually has some real value to it...
Maybe I should keep my emergency funds in all nickels and pennies as a hedge against inflation. If the value of the dollar goes to crap I can just melt the stuff down. Would be a pain to store it and transport it but it also would be a bitch to steal it without a fork lift ;-) I think we would be better off if all our currency had real value or was backed by something tangible. - thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7You mean like, say, a gold standard?
Or maybe platinum... like the euro. - Brewdaddy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Pennies are 98.5% zinc and an outer coating of copper nowadays. I'm not sure about the metal content of nickels, but they're worth about 7 cents right now.
- blapierre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@Apeweek
Gold doesn't have intrinsic value. Nothing has intrinsic value. An object only has value in the eyes of the one who values it.
Gold is used as currency because it is durable, divisible, scarce, and has other uses besides being currency. The US dollar has no other use than to buy things. The ONLY reason someone wants to obtain dollars is because they know SOMEONE else values it for the same reason. It's a system that can't work forever. On the other hand people want gold for reasons other than that someone else wants it too. - Doomhammer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I agree with some other comments, we should just get rid of the penny.
If a transaction happens to go into smaller denominations than $0.05, then just round it to the nearest multiple of $0.05. For example:
$1.99 => $2.00
$1.92 => $1.90
Sure, occasionally you would end up getting less change back than you technically deserve, but other times you'd get more. It'd all balance out, and we wouldn't have a pointless coin any more. :)
And, for the record, pennies cost the U.S. Mint ~$0.03 to actually make, IIRC, even before the metal in them started being worth more than $0.01. - Jelfish, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=426715
In this google-answers article the responder answers that question. (yes, it's illegal) - Terc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7One way to fix this problem is to lower our monumental national debt. This would greatly increase the value of the dollar.
- apeweek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6As the dollar loses its value, hoarding coins could be a way to protect your assets. This was the reason for the gold standard in the first place - gold tends to retain intrinsic value, and is not as subject to manipulation by polical forces.
- jhnewt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7@sockpuppets
I'll give you a roll of quarters for only $15. - raabco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You asked for a reference antique, so i obliged you.
- levyjl1988, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4What a ***** up law, I'll do anything with my money that I work harded for it, so *****, if I want to melt some coins, damnit I will!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Everyone here is missing one gigantic important point. This regulation wasn't passed because it's suddenly so expensive to make a penny, it's being passed because existing pennies have suddenly appreciated in value. If people were to attempt to take advantage of that appreciated value, the united states has no choice but to mint new coins to replace the coinage that is permanently removed from circulation. That coinage now costs much more to produce and the extra cost is passed on to us taxpayers (thus it is detrimental to us all).
- PueSi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3How do they know if you melted pennies?
- cyssero, on 04/18/2009, -1/+4In Australia at least, and other countries I imagine, the money is the Government's property. You merely borrow it off them until you choose to turn it into tender. Somewhat like software, you don't own the intellectual property itself, rather you own a license to use it.
- baldr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6"The rule also bans the exportation of the coins, beyond traveling with $5 worth and shipping up to $100 for legitimate purposes."
Am I reading this wrong or is it now illegal to carry more than 5 dollars in pennies/nickels out of the country? - antique, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9The US Mint can make regulations as it is a part of the Department of Treasury
- Derf0293, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@Urusai
Yeah but our nation doesn't really have any way of fixing a problem (Laws are the whole base of our country) so it would be hard to change this anyway, I mean how would you replace all those pennies with aluminum coins and/or Credit Cards, or anything else for that matter?
Its Kind of like a habit that would be very difficult and time consuming to get out of. - masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Don't you love how our government always shoves the 'fine print' at the end of laws?
That's a pretty god damn big change (no pun intended) if you can't take more than $5 worth of pennies and nickels out of the country. Only two and a half rolls of nickels will push you past the limit on that! - praeburn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Other countries, in the rest of the world eliminate their small change, get over yourself. It does average out.
Perhaps you buy some beer from wal-mart (cause your the kind of idiot that thinks wal-mart is a good thing) and they round up by 2 cent. You loose. Tomorrow you buy 5 things and they round down. It all evens out in the end.
If your mint was really worried about the loss of currency through destruction, they should change to note printed on plastic. They last much longer, much harder to forge and dont dissolve in the laundry. - mattjvw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2God man, you can't get sarcasm even when he adds a /sarcasm tag?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2go ***** yourself... i'll melt a damn penny if i want to...
- spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"The rule also bans the exportation of the coins, beyond traveling with $5 worth"
- brbubba, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6How about getting rid of the farking penny for starters!
- sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Is that a roll of quarters in your pants because either way I'm taking you out back and frisking you.
- redheadguy719, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2dang it, my chemistry class did this, now we won't be able to.
- ascalonx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6The U.S. Mint is making laws?...I thought that's been the President's job for the last 6 years. Has Congress become so ineffectual that the Mint is getting away with legislating? Wow.
/Sarcasm - Nerys, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I do not recognize there right to dictate whether I can melt coins or not and in fact I am going to go MELT some pennies as soon as I figure out how AND I am going to mail $5.01 in pennies somewhere outside the US.
Its MY MONEY and MY PROPERTY I can and will do any freaking thing I want with it.
The rule about defacing money is bogus. They can not prevent you from defacing money its YOUR PROPERTY what they can do is prevent you from committing FRAUD and simply INCREASE the penalty if the FRAUD is a result of defacing money (its like INTENT)
Melting down YOUR PROPERTY and selling it is NOT fraud and thefore NOT regulatable by the US MINT no matter what "rules" they try to pass as legitimate.
Grrrrr that makes me angry
Also eliminating the penny would SUCK. it would either result in the faster elimination of REAL money (VERY bad for us regular folks) and or result in FAR higher prices as a "whole" ie added up over time.
Think about this. If walmart has the processing power to determine that Strawberry Pop Tarts (not bberry not chocolate STRAWBERRY Specifically) and BEER for some reason sell REALLY well just before a hurricane how hard would it be for them to "redo" there pricing so that the end result of the majority average of transactions would result in a price that would enable a "round up" instead of a "round down"
it would be a "hidden" price increase. sure might only be a nickel here and there but HUNDREDS of dollars potentially over the year PER PERSON just to get rid of the penny.
Oh wait your delusional you actually think the government would GIVE BACK the savings at not having to make a penny any longer. Yeah You really think that ehh ? Dream on.
Eliminating the penny is VERY VERY BAD. -
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