Metal Content and Manufacturing Costs
The US Mint reported that in fiscal year 2010 the unit cost of producing and shipping one-cent coins was $0.0179 - more than the face value of the coin. By 2012, this figure increased to $0.0241 because of the cost of materials and production. This is partly due to the significant rise in global metal demand and prices.
When copper reached a record high in February 2011, the melt value of a 95% copper penny was more than three times its face value. As of September 14, 2012, a pre-1982 penny contained $0.0250904 worth of copper and zinc, making it an attractive target for melting by people wanting to sell the metals for profit. In comparison, post-1982 copper-plated zinc cents have a metallurgical value of only $0.0056018.
The Secretary of the Treasury currently has authority to alter the percentage of copper and zinc in the one-cent coin if needed due to cost fluctuations.
Read more about this topic: Penny (United States Coin)
Famous quotes containing the words metal, content and/or costs:
“There were metal detectors on the staff-room doors and Hernandez usually had a drawer full of push-daggers, nunchuks, stun-guns, knucks, boot-knives, and whatever else the detectors had picked up. Like Friday morning at a South Miami high school.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“I have sometimes seen women, who would have been sensible enough, if they would have been content not to be called women of sense—but by aiming at what they had not, they only proved absurd—for sense cannot be counterfeited.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Like cellulite creams or hair-loss tonics, capital punishment is one of those panaceas that isn’t. Only it costs a whole lot more.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)