The Penny - My Two Cent's Worth

[HaarFager]

Yesterday, Sunday, February 9th, 2025, President Trump ordered the Treasury Department to stop making pennies, citing costs.  From the article:

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-penny-t...97653051ba

I think Trump is being short sighted here.  Once he "saves the economy" and prices start going back down, I'm sure that the materials for making things will also cost less to produce as well.  We're gonna need that penny, sooner or later.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I hope he phases them out over a few years. 

I'm saving the pre-1981 copper cents along with Canadian ones, maybe the zinc ones should be saved too.

146 pennies = one pound ($1.46 per pound)
Pre-1981 pennies are 95% pure copper (known as Grade D copper)
The market value for copper is around $4.20 per pound right now. 
Scrap is less, in the $3 per pound range.

Reagan pennies after 1981 are copper clad zinc and contain 97.5% zinc.

Nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel.

Canada ceased distribution of their pennies in 2013.

Canadian pennies were 98 percent copper from 1942 to 1997, although the weight was reduced along the way from 3.24 g to 2.5 g per penny.

Save pennies and nickels, spend the rest.

[kdog]

We are not making new ones. There are plenty in circulation . I got a whole jar of them. The existence of the penny will be around along time.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I crunched the latest figures and came up with the following.

One pound is equal to . . .

140 Copper Canadian Cent coins (1942 to 1979)
146 Copper US Cent coins (pre-1981)
162 Copper Canadian Cent coins (1980 to 1981)
182 Copper Canadian Cent coins (1982 to 1996)
182 Copper Clad Zinc US Cent coins (1981 to present)
91 Copper/Nickel US 5-Cent coins (all)

Top dollar current metal prices by pound vs coin value (as of yesterday)

1lb of US nickels ($4.55 worth) market value is around $5.19 if you combine the market value of the copper and nickel.

1lb of copper US pennies ($1.46 worth) market value is $4.58

1lb of zinc US pennies ($1.82 worth) market value is $1.28

Copper pennies are worth more than 3 X their face value in market prices for metals. Nickels get 64 cents more market value per pound while zinc pennies get 54 cents less per pound than their face value.

The nickels are the most equal in value compared to the other coins. Seems more stable than than market prices for copper or nickel separately.

Half-Dollars, Quarters, and Dimes are 91.67% copper sandwiched with 8.33% nickel.
So, if we give these coins the same market value of copper/nickel we get the following figures.

One pound is equal to 

200 US Dimes. A face value of $20 and Market Value of $4.78
80 US Quarters. A face value of $20 and Market Value of $4.78
40 US Half-Dollars. A face value of $20 and Market Value of $4.78

All of these coins have a face value of $15.22 more per pound than their market value as metals. This makes the market value of a 1/2 dollar around 12 cents, a quarter around 6 cents, and a dime under 3 cents.

Looking at the value of the metals alone, these rates apply (roughly).

1 Half-Dollar = 2 quarters = 2 nickels = 4 copper pennies = 5 dimes = 16 zinc pennies

[BIAD]

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I've read a lot of survival/prepping material and watched a lot of movies and TV shows on the subject. The most serious survivalists had precious metals as the standard unit of exchange. They stressed gold and silver will be all you can use once the SHTF, along with barter of course.

I have issues with that, as do others, and believe that such investments as physical gold and silver are best saved for after reconstruction when things become stable. Also, I don't believe most people will have the luxury of a stash of PMs, and those that do will use that up quickly if they are starving to death.

Given all that, there is the Fallout scenario where bottle caps are currency, but I think coins will still be the standard. They are certified for weight and purity and as with any metal, they are a commodity that is universally traded.

Now, back to this rating system based on the market value of the metal in coin currency. Using this system could get complicated with the changing market. The market locally will differ from any world market and will ultimately be the standard of value where you are doing business. 

Even with the simple system I proposed . . .

1 Half-Dollar = 2 Quarters = 2 Nickels = 4 copper pennies = 5 Dimes = 16 zinc pennies.

. . . creates problems when making change, particularly the Dimes that are really close in value to the copper pennies. However, with weights based on coins, a token currency of other common metals like brass, aluminum, steel, etc. can be produced from scrap metal.

The system that is eventually used will be more of a barter exchange but I have to think the metal content and weight of coins would have everything to do with their value in a Mad Max Barter Town scenario. I see no reason to believe that coins will not still be currency in a SHTF economy, just valued differently.