If you’re an average working man or woman in the US, you probably know what is a penny and how one looks. But how much does it really cost to make it? Without giving it too much thought you’d say it shouldn’t cost more than the actual penny value. This isn’t the case. It costs more to make a penny than its face value. Why would the US government spend more to make a penny than it would get from its value? It’s easy: the coin will be used in a lot of transactions, so the cost is worth it when you think about it.
How much does it cost to make a penny?
There are two major costs you should consider when you’re talking about the cost of making pennies (which are also called the Lincoln cents): the financial cost and the environmental expense. We’ll go over both of these prices in the article below.
The Financial Cost of a Penny
A report that came out in 2011 from the United States Mint, pointed out that it will cost about 2.1 cents to make a penny. This, of course, means that its production price is twice the face value of the coin in circulation. These costs will be split like this:
- 1.8 cents will go towards producing the penny
- 0.26 cents will go toward administrative costs
- 0.003 cents will go into the distribution efforts of the Reserve Banks
Even though they are rather expensive, the US Mint still makes a few million pennies every year.
So yes, the coin’s face value is less than its actual value, because it actually costs 2.41¢ US ($0.0241 US Dollars (USD) to be exact) to make each penny. The face value of this coin was exceeded by its cost for the first time in 2006. This was due to a decision at the United States Mint, the agency of the government that prints money and strikes new coinage for the US when the composition of the penny was reconsidered.
The parts that are having the biggest impact on the final cost of making a penny are the materials that are used to make it. Pennies have that distinctive coppery color because they contain 2.5% copper. The other material used is zinc, 97.5% of a penny. The cost of metal extraction is much higher than in the past, because of all the new regulations of mining. This has made the prices of the metals used to make a penny rise dramatically in the early 21st century.
In an attempt to make the coins cheaper, the European Union used for its currency plastic in the composition of their coins. This could be something that the US government could do in an attempt to lower the cost of making pennies. This coin still remains iconic for the American people so attempts to change its composition have met serious opposition so far.
Another way of resolving the issue of the cost of making a penny would be to do away with this coin altogether. This could have a very big impact on the way people do business in the US because phrases like “It only costs a penny” would have no meaning anymore.
The penny isn’t the only coin that costs more to make than to own, the Nickel also has a face value lower than the physical cost of making. A nickel costs around 11.18¢ US to make. All of the other coins, like dimes or quarters, cost less to make than to own. To make a quarter, the US government spends around 11.14¢ US and the quarter has a face value of 25¢ US. Many US citizens believe that the costs of making pennies and nickels are balanced out by the lower costs of producing all of the other coins.
|2022 – Manufacturing Unit Costs
|Costs of Goods Sold
|Distribution to FRB
|Selling & Administrative
Each time the price of the materials will rise, the cost of making pennies will also rise. The Mint will have to make some tough decisions soon because it’s very unlikely that the cost of producing a penny will ever fall below 1¢, and more pennies are being made each year.
Many other government agencies from around the world have been financially accountable for distributing something that has a lower value than its manufacturing cost, so there’s a possibility that this will happen to the Mint also. This can only mean that pennies and nickels will suffer some changes to address this issue, soon, whether Americans like it or not.
It wouldn’t be the first time the penny will be changing; it happened before, in 1943 when the Mint made pennies using steel because copper was hard to get due to wartime demand.
So would we ever spend that much to make a coin? We wouldn’t and you shouldn’t also. It is illegal to make a penny, a nickel, or any other type of coin or paper money without proper licenses. Is it fair to spend more to make a currency than its final face value? If you take into account that the coin has to be durable to last years and years, then its creation price is legitimate.
Unfortunately, the cost to produce most coins — including the penny — has actually increased in recent years. The penny specifically increased more than 19% in cost. Part of the cost increase could be explained by the decrease in circulating coins. Total production has decreased, leading to an increase in the cost per individual coin.
The penny is currently the cheapest piece of U.S. currency to create. It’s about half of the cost of the next cheapest coin, which is the dime and the nickel. The quarter and half-dollar are the most expensive.
How does the Penny cost compare to other currencies?
Pennies are still the cheapest type of currency made by the U.S. Mint, followed by other coins like dimes, nickels, quarters, and half dollars. Although there is also the dollar coin, it didn’t become a part of this study. When it comes to paper money, the US $1 and $2 bills cost about 6.2 cents each to make, which makes them the cheapest to be made. They are followed by the $5, $10, $50, $20, and $100 bills, in this exact order.
What you should take out of this is that the federal government isn’t actually losing money when it comes to money being produced, as bills will cost a lot less to be made than their face value.
Also, the U.S. Mint has to release a biennial report with research into alternative metal compositions that can be used for American Coins, but so far, these reports haven’t been able to show anything groundbreaking.
The Environmental Cost of Pennies
The financial costs aren’t the only ones interesting when talking about the making of Lincoln cents. They also have an important environmental impact. It takes both zinc and copper to produce pennies and both these materials have to be mined. A lot of carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the emission of other pollutants, will result from mining. The processes used will also require a considerable amount of water, as well as electricity.
What’s also interesting is that with all of the government’s efforts to recycle as many materials as possible, the U.S. Mint never uses recycled materials when it is creating new coins.
Should the U.S. keep using pennies?
There are a lot of people that talk about getting rid of the penny completely, especially over the last decade. Due to their declining value, there are vendors that already refuse to accept pennies.
Although this isn’t taken seriously by the federal government, there are still a lot of institutions that talk about at least decreasing the cost of production for these and other coins.
Kama wewe ni wastani wa kazi mtu au mwanamke katika Marekani, pengine unajua nini senti na jinsi moja inaonekana. Lakini ni kiasi gani cha pesa kinachohitajiwa ili kuifanya? Bila kuipa mawazo sana unaweza kusema haipaswi gharama zaidi ya thamani halisi senti. Hii si kesi. Inagharimu zaidi kutengeneza senti kuliko thamani yake ya uso. Kwa nini serikali ya Marekani itatumia zaidi ya thamani ya senti kuliko itakayopata? Ni rahisi: sarafu itatumika katika shughuli nyingi, hivyo gharama ni thamani yake wakati wewe kufikiri juu yake. Ni gharama gani kufanya senti moja? Kuna gharama mbili kuu unapaswa kuzingatia wakati wewe ni kuzungumza juu ya gharama ya kufanya senti (ambayo pia huitwa Lincoln senti): gharama ya kifedha na gharama ya mazingira. Tutazungumzia bei hizi zote mbili katika makala iliyo hapa chini. Ripoti ya mwaka 2011 ya United States Mint ilionyesha kuwa inagharimu karibu senti 2.1 kutengeneza senti moja. Hii, bila shaka, humaanisha kwamba bei yake ya utengenezaji ni mara mbili ya thamani ya jina la sarafu inayozunguka. "Kama vile ilivyo kwa ""peni ya dola"" - 0.26 cents kwa gharama za usimamizi - 0.003 cents kwa gharama za usambazaji wa benki za hifadhi, hata kama ni ghali, Bodi ya Fedha ya Marekani bado inafanya senti milioni chache kila mwaka." Kwa hivyo, thamani ya sarafu ni chini ya thamani yake halisi, kwa sababu inagharimu $ 2.41 (US $ 0.0241 kwa usahihi) kutengeneza kila senti. Kwa mara ya kwanza, thamani ya sarafu hiyo ilizidi thamani yake ya awali mwaka 2006. Hii ilitokana na uamuzi wa United States Mint, shirika la serikali ambalo huchapisha pesa na kupiga sarafu mpya kwa ajili ya Marekani wakati muundo wa senti ulipozingatiwa. Sehemu ambazo zina athari kubwa zaidi kwa gharama ya mwisho ya kutengeneza senti ni vifaa vinavyotumiwa kuifanya. Sarafu za senti zina rangi ya shaba kwa sababu zina asilimia 2.5 ya shaba. Zinc ni moja ya vifaa vya msingi vya chuma, na inahitajika kwa asilimia 97. Gharama ya uchimbaji wa chuma ni kubwa kuliko wakati uliopita, kwa sababu ya kanuni zote mpya za uchimbaji. Hii imesababisha bei ya metali zinazotumiwa kutengeneza senti kuongezeka sana mwanzoni mwa karne ya 21. Ili kuondoa gharama za kutengeneza sarafu, Umoja wa Ulaya ulitumia plastiki katika sarafu zao. Hii ni kwa sababu serikali ya Marekani inataka kupunguza gharama za kutengeneza sarafu. Sarafu hii bado inabaki kuwa ikoni kwa watu wa Amerika kwa hivyo majaribio ya kubadilisha muundo wake yamekutana na upinzani mkubwa hadi sasa. Njia nyingine ya kutatua suala la gharama ya kutengeneza senti ingekuwa kuondoa sarafu hii kabisa. "Hii inaweza kuwa na athari kubwa sana kwa jinsi watu wanavyofanya biashara nchini Marekani kwa sababu misemo kama ""Ni gharama ya senti moja tu"" haitakua na maana tena." Penny si sarafu tu ambayo inagharimu zaidi kutengeneza kuliko kumiliki, Nickel pia ina thamani ya uso chini ya gharama ya kimwili ya kutengeneza. Nikeli moja inagharimu karibu dola 11.18 za Marekani kutengenezwa. Sarafu nyingine zote, kama vile senti au senti, hazihitaji pesa nyingi kutengenezwa kuliko kuhifadhiwa. Kwa mfano, kwa dola za Marekani, serikali ya Marekani hutumia karibu 11.14 US senti na robo ina thamani ya uso wa 25 US senti. Wananchi wengi wa Marekani wanaamini kwamba gharama za kutengeneza senti na senti ni sawa na gharama za chini za kutengeneza sarafu nyingine zote. """Makampuni ya viwanda na viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda vya viwanda." "Makampuni ya kutengeneza sarafu ya fedha ya Marekani yamekuwa yakikabiliwa na changamoto kubwa, kwa sababu ""ni vigumu sana kwamba gharama ya kutengeneza sarafu ya senti moja itaanguka chini ya senti moja, na sarafu nyingi zaidi zinatengenezwa kila mwaka.""" Mashirika mengine mengi ya serikali kutoka duniani kote yamekuwa na uwajibikaji wa kifedha kwa kusambaza kitu ambacho kina thamani ya chini kuliko gharama yake ya utengenezaji, kwa hivyo kuna uwezekano kwamba hii itatokea kwa Mint pia. Hii inaweza tu kumaanisha kwamba senti na nickels itapata mabadiliko fulani ili kushughulikia suala hili, hivi karibuni, kama Wamarekani kama au la. Hii haikuwa mara ya kwanza kwa sarafu hiyo kubadilishwa, ilitokea mwaka 1943 wakati kampuni ya kutengeneza sarafu ilitengeneza sarafu kwa kutumia chuma kwa sababu shaba ilikuwa ngumu kupata kwa sababu ya mahitaji ya wakati wa vita. Je, tunaweza kutumia pesa nyingi hivyo ili kutengeneza sarafu? Hatungefanya hivyo na wewe pia hupaswi kufanya hivyo. Ni kinyume cha sheria kutengeneza senti, senti, au aina nyingine yoyote ya sarafu au pesa za karatasi bila leseni hususa. Je, ni haki kutumia pesa nyingi zaidi ya thamani yake ya mwisho? Ikiwa unafikiria kuwa sarafu inapaswa kudumu kwa miaka na miaka, basi bei yake ya uundaji ni halali. Kwa kusikitisha, gharama ya kutengeneza sarafu nyingi - kutia ndani senti - imeongezeka sana katika miaka ya hivi karibuni. Kwa mfano, penny moja iliongezeka zaidi ya asilimia 19 katika gharama. Sehemu ya ongezeko la gharama inaweza kuelezwa na kupungua kwa sarafu zinazozunguka. Uzalishaji wa jumla umepungua, na kusababisha ongezeko la gharama kwa kila sarafu. Penny ni sarafu ya Marekani ya bei nafuu zaidi kutengenezwa. Ni kuhusu nusu ya gharama ya sarafu ya pili ya bei nafuu, ambayo ni dime na nickel. Dola robo na nusu ndiyo ghali zaidi. Gharama ya Penny inalinganaje na sarafu nyingine? Penny ni aina ya sarafu ya bei nafuu zaidi iliyotengenezwa na Mint ya Marekani, ikifuatiwa na sarafu nyingine kama vile dimes, nickels, robo, na nusu dola. Ingawa pia kuna sarafu ya dola, haikuwa sehemu ya utafiti huu. Kwa mfano, noti za dola moja na mbili za Marekani zinagharimu karibu senti 6.2 kila moja, na hivyo ni za bei nafuu zaidi kutengenezwa. Nakala za $5, $5, $5, $5, $20, $20, na $100 zinafuata kwa utaratibu huu. "Kile unapaswa kuchukua nje ya hii ni kwamba serikali ya shirikisho si kweli kupoteza fedha linapokuja fedha zinazozalishwa, kama muswada itakuwa gharama kidogo sana kwa ajili ya kuwa na thamani yao ya uso. """ Pia, Mint ya Marekani inapaswa kutolewa ripoti ya kila baada ya miaka miwili na utafiti katika misombo mbadala ya chuma ambayo inaweza kutumika kwa ajili ya sarafu za Marekani, lakini hadi sasa, ripoti hizi hazijaweza kuonyesha chochote groundbreaking. Gharama ya Mazingira ya Penny Gharama za kifedha si tu wale wa kuvutia wakati wa kuzungumza juu ya kufanya senti za Lincoln. Pia zina athari muhimu kwa mazingira. Inahitaji zinki na shaba kutengeneza senti na vifaa vyote viwili vinapaswa kuchimbwa. Mtiririko mkubwa wa kaboni dioksidi, pamoja na uzalishaji wa uchafuzi mwingine, utatokana na uchimbaji madini. Utaratibu unaotumiwa utahitaji pia kiasi kikubwa cha maji, na pia umeme. Jambo jingine la kushangaza ni kwamba licha ya juhudi zote za serikali za kuchakata vifaa vingi iwezekanavyo, U.S. Mint haitumii kamwe vifaa vilivyotengenezwa upya wakati wa kutengeneza sarafu mpya. Je, Marekani inapaswa kuendelea kutumia senti? Kuna watu wengi ambao wanazungumza juu ya kuondoa senti kabisa, haswa katika muongo uliopita. Kwa sababu ya kupungua kwa thamani yao, kuna wauzaji ambao tayari wanakataa kukubali senti. Ingawa hii haichukuliwi kwa uzito na serikali ya shirikisho, bado kuna taasisi nyingi ambazo huzungumza juu ya angalau kupunguza gharama za uzalishaji kwa sarafu hizi na nyingine.