US Cent, 2010

[andyg]

Not quite, Dale - there is another scenario.

Government makes the cent and sends it to a distribution center. Distribution center sends it to Banks, Banks send it to the merchant, the merchant gives it to the foreign tourist, the tourist takes it home and puts it in a drawer, never to be used again.

If it were a high value coin the net result would be a profit for the government, but since it costs more than a cent to make and distribute then it's a net loss.

[Prosit]

That certainly happens.  I suspect the percent of the mintage that goes that route is quite small however it is a legitimate part of the natural coin cycle   

Not quite, Dale - there is another scenario.

Government makes the cent and sends it to a distribution center. Distribution center sends it to Banks, Banks send it to the merchant, the merchant gives it to the foreign tourist, the tourist takes it home and puts it in a drawer, never to be used again.

If it were a high value coin the net result would be a profit for the government, but since it costs more than a cent to make and distribute then it's a net loss.

[Figleaf]

The coin is very rarely used to pay for anything.

Funny, I used it all te time in the US. VAT gets added to the price when you shop, so the final amount to pay involves cents 80% of the time. I'd always pay the nearest amount I had and add as many cents that they wouldn't have to return any. Some cashiers would be confused, return the cents and add some more with the change, others would have a register that calculates the change and included it in the amount tendered. On one occasion, I was a cent short. My son went outside and picked one up from the street...

My impression is that Dale's cycle works the way he described it, but that very few people are at ease with mental calculations. Or maybe it has become socially awkward to use cents? It is probably pretty macho to throw away money.

Same thing, there was a small deposit on the bottles of soda we bought. We returned the bottles to the shop, where they were refused. I pointed out the deposit text on the label and got the refund. The store manager told the cashier in a loud voice to throw the bottles away.

Peter

[chrisild]

On one occasion, I was a cent short. My son went outside and picked one up from the street...

Nutty furriners alert!   Most people will (if they use cash) simply take paper money out, maybe add a quarter or so, and then get the change. (Yes, part of the "problem" is that cash totals are so unpredictable in the US. But if you buy many different items around here, you would usually not be able to know in advance either what the total is.) You don't really bother checking your pennies. At best you grab one or two from the plates or jars that some stores have.

The same people however are likely to complain whenever the concept of rounding is brought up. Oh, that would make things so much more expensive etc. etc.  And when you try and explain that only cash totals would be rounded up/down according to pretty easy rules, you'll hear something like "oh, but of course stores would use the opportunity to raise prices". Don't ask me what world these people live in ...

Christian

[Prosit]

My habit, if I pay with cash, is to pay to the next highest dollar and let the clerk give the change.  What I can tell you from standing in line a lot is that when someone starts looking for change to pay, everyone in the line gets fidgety.  If they take very long, you can see people in the line start to shake their heads and roll their eyes.  It doesn't take much until someone will drop whatever they are trying to purchase and walk out.

I don't know about people not being at ease with mental calculations but I will testify that clerks aren't    I think the reason many don't pay with exact change is simply impatience.  Well saving those couple seconds may not make sense...but it is my impression of how people feel.

Dale

Funny, I used it all te time in the US. VAT gets added to the price when you shop, so the final amount to pay involves cents 80% of the time. I'd always pay the nearest amount I had and add as many cents that they wouldn't have to return any. Some cashiers would be confused, return the cents and add some more with the change, others would have a register that calculates the change and included it in the amount tendered. On one occasion, I was a cent short. My son went outside and picked one up from the street...

My impression is that Dale's cycle works the way he described it, but that very few people are at ease with mental calculations. Or maybe it has become socially awkward to use cents? It is probably pretty macho to throw away money.

Same thing, there was a small deposit on the bottles of soda we bought. We returned the bottles to the shop, where they were refused. I pointed out the deposit text on the label and got the refund. The store manager told the cashier in a loud voice to throw the bottles away.

Peter

[andyg]

I don't know about people not being at ease with mental calculations but I will testify that clerks aren't    I think the reason many don't pay with exact change is simply impatience.  Well saving those couple seconds may not make sense...but it is my impression of how people feel.

Not always...
I took about 30$ back to Canada with me in loose change, I had maybe 5$ in 5 cents
In the tourist shop at Niagra, which was quite empty I have to admit, I bought maybe two things for $6.35,
I finds 6 dollar then intends to pay the extra in 5 cents, the cashier sees my bag of 5 cents and says "do you want to get rid of them?" so I pays most of the amount in 5 cents - which took some counting...
I'm not even sure the wartime iron 5 cents from 1943-1944 are legal tender anymore - but she didn't notice

[chrisild]

Ah, see? There was no line, nobody waiting behind you. That does indeed make a difference.

Christian

[Bimat]

American mints struck about 4 billion one cent coins this year

See following tables:



Complete story can be read here.

Aditya

[chrisild]

Since they are issued for circulation, and then somehow "vanish", it is not exactly surprising that so many have to be produced.

By the way, in the euro area about 1.7 billion 1 cent coins, plus about 1.2 billion 2 cent coins, were produced last year (in 2009) for example. Instead of checking out the statistics for each of the mints, I just looked here http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/euro/circulation/html/index.en.html (where the number of coins in circulation is listed) and did some maths. Yes, I know I am bad at that but subtracting the 2008 figure from the 2009 figure is something I can handle ...

Christian

[Prosit]

4 billion cent for 2010 and I got one last week in change which actually makes the second since I started this post (or ever).
I wonder where they all are...
Dale

[villa66]

Believe it or not, over the last few decades, a mintage of 4,000,000,000 is actually a low-production year for the Lincoln.

Let me make a little trouble...the 18 Lincoln "types"

1909 (VDB on reverse)
1909-1917 (no VDB)
1918-1942 and 1946-1958 (VDB at truncation of bust, original [1909] alloy of copper, tin and zinc)
1943 (zinc-plated steel)
1944-1946 ("shell-case" alloy of copper and zinc)
1959-1962 (Memorial reverse)
1962-1968 (alloy changed to copper and zinc)
1969-1982 (smaller, squarer portrait)
1982-2008 (copper-plated zinc)
2009 (Log cabin reverse, original alloy)
2009 (Log cabin reverse, copper-plated zinc)
2009 (Sitting reverse, original alloy)
2009 (Sitting reverse, copper-plated zinc)
2009 (Standing reverse, original alloy)
2009 (Standing reverse, copper-plated zinc)
2009 (Capitol reverse, original alloy)
2009 (Capitol reverse, copper-plated zinc)
2010 (Shield reverse)

v.

[Prosit]

Many consider there are seven different varieties of 1982 cents.
Dale

[villa66]

I agree that there are 7 varieties for the 1982, but 5 of them are mere large and small date varieties, like the 1960 and 1970 coins.

v.

[FosseWay]

Numeric and Roman numerals have been on USA coinage in the past, never with the cent though...

[pedant]Not entirely true. The big cents issued at the start of the 19th century have, in addition to the words ONE CENT in the wreath, a numerical fraction, 1/100, beneath it.[/pedant]

True, it doesn't say what it's 1/100th of, but then neither did (for example) the cent coins in pre-euro Cyprus, or the UK pre-1927 threepence, which just have numerals with no units.

[Prosit]

And then there is that evil 1922 no-D  

I do not collect cents these days but when I did; what I considered to be a variety was based on two things, wheather I could see it unaided
and more importantly wheather I could afford it or not  

Dale

I agree that there are 7 varieties for the 1982, but 5 of them are mere large and small date varieties, like the 1960 and 1970 coins.

v.