It Costs a Dime To Make a Nickel
The title isn’t sage advice about marketing or earning money, it’s the unfortunate truth for the US government due to the rising cost of nickel (the metal, not the coin). Here’s the scoop.
House Democrats have sponsored legislation to change the metal content of coins, outraged that it costs a dime to make a nickel.
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Domestic and International Monetary Policy Subcommittee Chairman Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., are sponsors of the bill that would give authority to the Treasury Department to change the composition of coins issued by the U.S. Mint to less expensive materials.
The two estimate that by changing the composition of the penny and nickel, the federal government could save more than $100 million annually. Another $300 million could be saved if similar changes were made to the half-dollar, quarter and dime.