Q: With the amount of inflation we have had over many years, is there any thought of eliminating the penny and nickel and having a dime as our smallest coin?
—Burrl H. Tolar, Sandy Springs
A: The United States government is exploring alternatives to pennies and nickels, which both cost more to produce than they're worth.
President Barack Obama mentioned assessing the “future of currency” in the 2015 budget, The Washington Post reported.
Each penny cost 1.66 cents and every nickel cost 8.09 cents to produce in 2014, the U.S. Mint stated in its 2014 Biennial Report to Congress published in December.
Comparatively, a dime cost 3.91 cents and a quarter cost 8.95 cents to produce last year.
Production costs of coins change yearly, depending on the costs of the metals to produce them. The production of nickels and pennies cost taxpayers $105 million in 2013, the Post reported.
“We keep making the penny because the banks ask for it,” Tom Jurkowsky, a U.S. Mint spokesperson, told The Wall Street Journal in September 2014.
The Price Rounding Act of 1989, the Legal Tender Modernization Act of 2001 and the Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation Act of 2006 would have eliminated pennies in cash transactions and required rounding prices to the nearest 5 cents.
The government also has looked at replacing $1 bills with coins, which would save money because they would last longer.
Canada began taking its pennies out of circulation in 2012, when they cost the Canadian government 1.6 cents per penny to make.
Andy Johnston of Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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