By jacobtothe on Skatehive
About a week ago, Donald Trump announced the US would stop producing the penny (pictured at right)). According to The US Mint, it costs 3.69 cents to mint a 1-cent coin. As of this post, according to coinflation.com, copper is $4.3443/lb and zinc $1.2895/lb, resulting in a melt value of $0.0075277 (about 75% of face value) per penny today. The rest of the cost is presumably other factors of production including dies, energy, labor, packaging, and distribution. This isn't the first time the penny has been pressured by inflation. In the US, the 1909-1982 Cent was 95% copper, and those coins have a current melt value of $0.0287384 (287% of face value) resulting in the application of Gresham's Law. Both the 1909-1982 penny and the copper-plated zinc 1982-2025 penny have the same face value, but few knowingly spend the old ones. This isn't just because the "wheaties" from 1909-1958 (pictured below) have a neat wheat design on the reverse, but also because the coin is simply worth more as a