Paladin. wrote on 04/25/13 at 20:32:37:Midnightrider wrote on 04/25/13 at 19:46:38: ...How much time do you need? I can solve this problem in 20 seconds…
You have two choices:
•
Stop minting the coins you're losing money on (for example, get rid of the penny).
•
Start minting money using a material (like steel for a nickel) that's worth less than its cost of production....
Must be nice to be rich. I am not and I count my pennies.
The cost of production of coins is mostly labor.
You may think that Government Is Totally Incompetent -- but it is still in business.
Its not mostly labor, I am nearly sure none of it is labor ... its metal, electricity, security for transporting this crap to and from the mint and other garbage ... OK Fine there is some labor ... but metal and power etc etc eat up much of the $.
But - Having no coins would suck ... cos we're losing $ on the dollar bill too. Its got a life of 18-24 months and costs like $2 to make.
We prolly should lose the penny, make the nickel smaller and thinner than the dime, make the quarter about 1/2 the current size - like nickel size, mint a dollar the size of the quarter, and a $2 slightly bigger, and lose the 1/2 dollar ...
One of those eastern european countries have no coins ... hungary I think. They find it very disgusting cos after about 6 months the often traded bills - like our 25c would be, turns into something comparable to used toilet paper ...
Coins on average last 30+ years. And these are the heaviest handled items.
Bills last 18-24 months when traded often. Makes more sense to make a 2c penny 1 time in 30 yrs than a just as $$$ bill every other year.
Cool.
Srinath.