Does it make sense to keep minting pennies?
Dear Cecil: I have a question for you. How much does it cost to make an individual penny? Also, how many are made each year? (OK, so it’s more than one question.) Are they ever going to stop manufacturing them? — Michael Notzen, via the Internet Dear Michael: A lot of people have been wondering about this. The mint makes something like 13 billion pennies a year, accounting for two-thirds of all U.S. coinage. Half of these pennies will disappear from circulation within a year, having been squirreled away in penny jars and who knows where else. The U.S. General Accounting Office estimates that of the roughly 170 billion pennies currently in existence, two-thirds have been effectively withdrawn from circulation by people who think they’re too much trouble to carry around. The penny has by far the lowest seigniorage (profit) rate of any U.S. coin. Each costs four-fifths of a cent to make, netting Uncle Sam just one-fifth of a cent, or 20 percent. The profit on a quarter, by comparison, is
