Melting Coins Now Illegal In the U.S.

A number of readers have noted the action by the U.S. Mint to outlaw the melting down or bulk export of coins. This has come about because the value of the precious metals contained in coins now exceeds their face value. The Mint would rather not have to replace pennies (at a cost of 1.73 cents per) or nickels (at 8.74 cents). The expectation is that Congress will mandate new compositions for some U.S. coins in 2007.

Comments

How much does it take to refine the metal?

[east coast]

As much as I can understand why they do not want people melting down these coins, how much is the metal really worth in it's "raw" form unrefined?

My second question is how much would it cost to refine these metals to make them worth the most? Copper prices are sky high right now but a lump of melted pennies probably wouldn't be able to be sold as a "copper" since there are a number of other metals involved. Is this something that can really be profitable?

Devalue

[HappySqurriel]

I wonder how much of this is because of "increasing value of precious metals" and how much is "The devaluing of the American dollar" (I recognize that from the perspective of Americans this would be the same thing); if it is based on the dollars value, why wouldn't you attempt to correct the problem with the dollar (by not running a 1/2 trillion dollar deficit) rather than finding cheaper materials?

Possibly do as other countries did...

[b0s0z0ku]

And deprecate the coins equivalent to the penny and have the lowest monetary unit be 5 cents (it's obviously possible to make a coin for under 5 cents since a penny costs 1.75 cents to make). Also, encourage the use of $1 coins and create $2, $5 and possibly $10 coins as well (keep the $10 bills at least though). That way, it'll be easier for automated machines to give change. When I go to NJ from NYC, there's few things more annoying than the river of $1 coins that the ticket machine vomits as change when you put a $20 in to buy a $10.25 ticket!

And for folks who'll ask, replacing cash with electronic transactions isn't the answer. I for one like the anonymity of cash and the fact that I'm carrying a physical object of known value that can handle some pretty heavy abuse before becoming worthless.

-b.

under what authority?

[Speare]

Under what authority can the US Mint create new law? The US Mint, the Secret Service and the Treasury are all in the enforcement, not the legislative branch.

Some AC said it was illegal to mutilate or deface paper money. Uh, no, it's not. It's also not illegal to cut up a US coin in some artistic fashion and sell it for a higher amount; this is done all the time. In terms of defacement, you can't stick a picture of Kennedy on a quarter and try to redeem it as a half-dollar, and the same goes for gluing a "20" on the corner of a one-dollar bill. That's simple fraud, in this case called counterfeiting.

Re:If this keeps up...

[Bloke down the pub]

Most banks already handle transactions down to the 6th decimal place. My bank account at any given time could have a certain number of thousandths of a cent in it.

I've worked in the USA, Europe and the UK. I've never had a bank account with more than 2 decimal places. What's more, I work on business & accounting software, and the only times I've seen that use a resolution finer than what's available in the local currency is for highly specialised functions - and even then, it's only for internal, intermediate calculations.

To put it another way: I call bullshit.

Re:get rid of pennies altogether?

[couchslug]

That will not be missed as alternative coin-reception techniques have been developed.
"Juicies" in the Phillipines have perfected a very entertaining way of picking up stacked change from atop a San Miguel bottle. The more skillful can return the stack coin-by-coin.
Shouts to any Nipa Hut or Fire Empire patrons in da house! :)