How much for a penny?

Published: May 08, 2008

David Nichol, T-H Staff Writer

Things are tough all over. From Washington comes the news that it costs more than a penny to make a penny.

Not only that, it takes more than seven and a half cents to make a nickel.

By the time this is read, we’ll know whether the House voted to use a cheaper combination of metals to make those two coins.

I have a better idea — stop making coins altogether. Then do completely away with that infernal decimal point, along with all those “cents” that came after those decimal points.

It would make it easier for addition and subtraction. It would probably be the salvation of some store clerks — the ones who don’t have cash registers that automatically figure a customer’s change. It would also be cheaper.

Of course, there would then be a great battle. I’m sure that consumers would want to round down all those prices that had cents along with the dollar. No doubt, businesses would want to round them up. I personally come down on the side of rounding down.

Last year, the U.S. Mint produced 7.4 billion pennies and 1.2 billion nickels, according to the Associated Press. That’s a bunch of coinage. Especially if it costs more to make it than the coins are worth.

• • • • •

I believe I see a silver lining in the economic turndown and the increase in gasoline costs.

In the not too distant future, I see a populace that is in much better shape, generally, than we are today. That’s what’ll happen when we finally can’t afford gas anymore and start having to walk everywhere.

Along with all the new exercise folks’ll be getting, we won’t be able to afford all the rich foods we’re consuming now. The health benefits will be amazing.

Do I really believe that’ll happen? Nah. The minute those big oil companies realize that they’ve priced themselves out of business, they’ll back off on prices — not much, just enough to get us back to the pump.

Still, it might not hurt to invest in a good pair of walking shoes, just in case. Or a bicycle, roller skates, pogo stick — something.

• • • • •

Another report from Washington says that ethanol from corn ain’t what it was originally cracked up to be. Seems that so much corn is being used to make fuel that it’s contributing to the high cost of food.

Well, folks have known of a better — or at least, more profitable — use of ethanol for a long time (and I don’t mean as paint stripper, though some forms of it could probably be used for that). And I never heard people complaining that this particular use of ethanol was making food cost more.

But even rotgut would probably be too expensive to put in the tank.

• • • • •

Still no economic stimulus money. Maybe I made Uncle mad with my lack of faith and he’s decreed that I must suffer for my sins. Maybe. Folks with direct deposit are already getting theirs, or so they say.

Meanwhile, I wait. Not necessarily patiently, but I wait.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: David Nichol’s column appears in the Times-Herald on Thursdays. Nichol is a member of the Times-Herald news team. He can be reached by e-mail at dnichol@thnews.com)