Comments on: US August Coin Production Reveals 2012 Hawaii Volcanoes Quarter Mintages

By: humintz

humintz — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 06:18:24 +0000

Received one from a banker who said it was hard to get a hold of. Apparently Loomis has been holding on to them… ? But it is beautiful.

By: Stewart

Stewart — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:44:54 +0000

On a lighter note, the gov’t could give each American $3 in coins and be done with it, haha.

By: Stewart

Stewart — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:40:34 +0000

Agreed, they cost a few pennies to make, but once released from the mint, they positively count on the books as an Gov’t asset worth $1, so I would argue that perhaps $1 billion dollars is held in various repositories around the country and will never ever ever be utilized. I know the 2002 onwards Kennedy’s are for collector markets only, and make a wonderful profit being sold, but I have to imagine several billion dollars of Kennedy’s are in bank vaults, which will never ever be utilized. I believe that the vaults must contain every single Kennedy half from the post silver days onwards to 2001, a staggering amount. Just seems to be an asset that should be used in some manner or eliminated altogether. I would suggest simply converting from the $bill to the $ coin would be the simplest means.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 21:18:38 +0000

Since 2002 Kennedy halves have only been made to order for collectors who order them. In other words you’ll never see a Kennedy half in circulation again. As for the billion $1 coins, that may be the value but it’s not the cost to manufacture. I don’t know but it may only cost pennies to mint a $1 coin.

By: Munze

Munze — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:52:34 +0000

According to the BEP, $1 bills account for over 40% of all notes in circulation and last maybe 3.5 years before wearing out. There’s no practical way to recycle old bills so they have to be shredded, then burned or buried. What a stinking waste, but nobody in the government has the (anatomical parts) to stand up to the nay-sayers and do what every other country already did years ago.

If people are so wedded to bills, maybe the Treasury could do a full, modern makeover of the $2 bill – real colors and a contemporary design instead of just putting watercolors around TJ’s portrait. With enough deuces in circulation no one would get more than one $1 coin at a time in change, and the BEP could still save 20% of its production costs.

By: Stewart

Stewart — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 16:08:49 +0000

Absolutely correct, it is a total waste of money. On another note, it is early September and I have not seen (other than collector sets I own) in circulation a single Kennedy half and for that matter a single $1 coin of any type, and I honestly mean, not a SINGLE dollar coin. They must stop making paper $1 bills, the sooner the better. The last time I did a rough count of previous production totals, the $value of native american and presidential dollars sitting in Fed Bank Reserves was absolutley staggering, must be close to a billion dollars, if anybody knows the total $ value of Sagagewa’s etc. sitting on shelf, let me know.

By: jim

jim — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 06:16:38 +0000

Talk to your congress people and senators – it is a political issue. Get them to authorize the mint to stop minting pennies and it will. Not a decision the mint can make on it’s own and as often as the mint has reported it is losing money on the penny congress continues to require it make them.

Canada has just quit making pennies and nobody there seems to be making a big stink about it. In cash transactions they round up or down to the nearest 5 cents and in all other transactions (e.g. credit card) they keep the exact penny amount. I did get a Canadian coin set which likely is the last that will contain a penny. Don’t know if that will be worth anything in the future but it is historic anyway.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 00:14:33 +0000

Cost 1.7 cents to make 1 penny. That was the last I heard.

By: Stewart

Stewart — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 22:59:05 +0000

This year alone to date, $41.6 million in pennies, what a joke. Each and everyone at a loss.

By: Stewart

Stewart — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 22:56:59 +0000

Other than the premium priced proof/mint pennies, why in the world in the US Mint producing pennies on a regular basis, they are of no use, at least in the numbers made every year. As proof, I would bet that evrybody reading these posts has perhaps 1000 pennies at their disposal. An obvious savings for the mint and the US. Not meant in any way to be a political question, just a coin question.