Privatize Pennies??

ambro51 · March 29, 2008 2:48AM

Heres an idea.... Why not allow the private mintage of circulating One cent coins by private parties, and allow them as legal tender. In fact, the government could sell rights to coin ten million "Hillary for president cents", or a hundred million "Apple Computer" pennies.

Only restriction is that they buy a standard planchet supplied by present suppliers.
The Mint wouldnt have to coin any more pennies. Private industry would.

Imagine the Advertising Potential, and the collectors....what a field day

It would be much the same as 1863 when a wde variety of one cent federal and private coins were accepted as legal tender.

jmski52 · March 29, 2008 2:56AM

That's a slippery slope. Sooner or later, it would be nickels, then dimes. Before you know it, people would expect their money to actually be worth something, and then the politicians and banks would have a hard time keeping control over the fruits of our labors.

I mean, what if you saved for retirement your whole life, and then when you retired, you could actually stop working?

Nah, it's just a pipe dream.

rgCoinGuy · March 29, 2008 2:57AM

How in the world would you be able to keep up with what was actual legal tender, and what was counterfiet in this scenario?

ambro51 · March 29, 2008 3:46AM

The point being, everything made would be made at a loss, since it costs so much to make them to begin with. No benefit to a counterfeiter, the money would be made in advertising.

who knows ....just a saturday afternoon thought

rgCoinGuy · March 29, 2008 3:53AM

I see now

lordmarcovan · March 29, 2008 10:30AM

Y'know, that would be kind of interesting. Definitely interesting from an exonumia point of view.

I'd have said that was crazy, but history has proven otherwise, with the Hard Times and Civil War tokens.

Dawg144 · March 29, 2008 10:35AM

I like the idea a lot, except for the part about making the pennies legal tender. Like hard times, Civil War, etc. tokens, these tokens can be legally traded as money even if the government doesn't endorse them. If the Mint decides to cold turkey the production pennies, privatization might be in everyone's best interest.

tydye · March 29, 2008 10:40AM

As a collector of CWT I really like the idea

lordmarcovan · March 29, 2008 10:46AM

I would think they'd have to stick to one standard composition and diameter for the "cents" to be recognizable. Perhaps an aluminum token the size of the current cent? Beyond mandating the size and/or composition, Uncle Sam could wash his hands of the whole affair and save some money.

I really like the idea the more I think about it, but heck, I'm a coin dweeb. The general public might have an entirely different reaction. But if the government gave the nod, and basically said something along the lines of, "OK, we're done making cents- y'all can do it now- just keep 'em this size and struck in this metal, and it's OK with us", then... who knows?

DieClash · March 29, 2008 10:50AM

<< <i>I would think they'd have to stick to one standard composition and diameter for the "cents" to be recognizable. Perhaps an aluminum token the size of the current cent? Beyond mandating the size and/or composition, Uncle Sam could wash his hands of the whole affair and save some money.

I really like the idea the more I think about it, but heck, I'm a coin dweeb. The general public might have an entirely different reaction. But if the government gave the nod, and basically said something along the lines of, "OK, we're done making cents- y'all can do it now- just keep 'em this size and struck in this metal, and it's OK with us", then... who knows? >>

If I'm not mistaken I read a recent article in CW where 40% of the U.S. Mint's production capacity is used to mint Cents at a loss. The Cent costs about 2 cents to manufacture. We taxpayers could save a lot if Uncle Sam privatized cent produciton and distribution.

tydye · March 29, 2008 10:58AM

Or turn that loss into a profit. Keep Abe on the obverse but sell of the reverse design for 5 cents a piece. Coke could pay Uncle Sam 5 million to produce 1 Million cents with its logo. Netting 3 Mil. Think of all the designs
From a numismatic perspective I like it but not sure how I view it otherwise as I am already bombarded with advertising everywhere else.

derryb · March 29, 2008 11:19AM

Yea, lets give the contract to the 22 year old in Miami. He had a $300 million contract from DOD to supply the Afghans ammunition. He was raking in the dough till they found out the ammo was 40 years old and being bought by the kid from old abandoned stockpiles in Europe and Asia. He's outta work now, give him a call. He's pretty industrious, I'm sure he can come up with something.

Coxe · March 29, 2008 11:36AM

I had brought that up before. It would be the ultimate in capitalism. Open the reverses up to bidding for advertisements to finance the cost shortfall. Would make one heck of a colelctible market too! I culd see cents with reverses for McDOnald's, NASCAR, Budweiser, Microsoft, Disney,....

Privatize Pennies??

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