A Common Cents Move

A nickel saved is a nickel earned?

Nickel-wise but pound-foolish?

Any number of maxims are in trouble if economists at the Research Triangle Institute, a North Carolina think tank, have their way. The institute, commissioned by the Bureau of the Mint to analyze U.S. coin needs, wants the Government to stop producing the penny by 1980, along with reducing the size of the dollar coin and dropping the half-dollar.

The penny is a casualty of inflation; people do not want to be bothered with it. Though an estimated 40 billion pennies are supposed to be in circulation; millions are removed each year as they pile up in dresser drawers and Mason jars. The more that are withdrawn, the more the Government has to mint so that merchants will be assured a steady supply. The report estimates that by 1990 the mint will have to turn out 37 billion pennies a year (compared with 9 billion today); by then, the cost of manufacturing a penny will be about 1.5-c-, more than double today's cost of .67-c-. The Treasury is debating the matter and will not make its recommendation to Congress until next year. A nickel for its thoughts?

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