Breakfast links: On a mission

by David Alpert • February 19, 2010 8:51 am

Photo by Hans Riemer.

$18M for snow, $1B for railcars: Metro released its estimate for the cost of the snowstorms: $18 million, $8M to remove the snow and $9.7M in lost fares. (They had to pay salaries though service was not running.) They're trying to get federal disaster aid to cover some of the loss ... The NTSB added safer railcar designs to its "most wanted" improvements; replacing the 1000-series cars would cost $1 billion. (Post)

Shovel in Deanwood: ANC 7C is organizing a group to shovel out bus stops for the W4, U4, U8, U5/U6, and 96 buses Saturday from 8-10:30 am. Meet at Lederer Youth Garden Center, Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. NE and 48th St. NE. (Sylvia Brown)

Real estate mission delayed: Central Union Mission is trying to move from 14th and R, but Petworth residents didn't want it, and then the District's attempt to set up a really short RFP so they could get the Gales School downtown ran into civil liberties groups that wanted a reasonable-length RFP to permit other bidders. (14th & You)

Hoboken fixing parking by improving other modes: As Hoboken, NJ has gentrified, the numbers of cars have risen enormously creating massive parking crunches from professionals who commute by transit but drive on weekends and from residents of nearby towns driving in for the bars. Hoboken's new Director of Transportation and Parking plans to solve the problem in every way other than adding parking: better ped safety, bike lanes, local shuttles, taxis, car sharing and more. (Planetizen, Michael P)

LaHood is reading!: Ray LaHood (or his staff) acknowledged a number of blogs in his post about TIGER, including Greater Greater Washington. Thanks Mr. Secretary, and thanks to the USDOT communications staff who are reading this blog! (Fast Lane)

No more Lincoln Memorial (or trolley car): The penny will no longer feature the Lincoln Memorial. Neil thinks the image may be "too abstruse in meaning and not that finely executed." When I was little I thought the back of the penny was a trolley car, so maybe that points to value in changing it, or maybe we're losing a trolley car. (US Mint)

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21 comments

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David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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Ugh, why fix the penny? Eliminate it. They cost more than they're worth to make.

If the Mint charged customers (banks) what it costs to make pennies, the problem would fix itself.

by Michael Perkins on Feb 19, 2010 9:33 am • link • report

was about to say the same thing. Total waste of money.

by JTS on Feb 19, 2010 9:36 am • link • report

Indeed. Get rid of the penny.

I've patronized several establishments that do not give or take pennies. They'll round to the nearest nickel.

On a related note, Jarrett Walker has often noted the transit benefits of getting rid of the $1 bill, as well:

http://www.humantransit.org/2009/08/mundane-things-that-really-matter-us1-bills.html

So, eliminate the penny, give us a Looney (you know, with a little cultural oomph behind it - not just the current dollar coin).

by Alex B. on Feb 19, 2010 9:37 am • link • report

We have both dollar bills and dollar coins. Without even factoring public transit into the mix, if Treasury wants the dollar coin to take off and gain wider acceptance/use, they need to eliminate the dollar bill.

That said, if we go that route, we should also create a $2 coin.

Lastly, I diagree with getting rid of the penny.

by Froggie on Feb 19, 2010 10:20 am • link • report

1 Billion to replace the 1000 series cars? That seems somewhat high, however even if we could cut that cost in half somehow metro is never going to get 500 million.

On another note will they get new cars for the silver line?

by Matt R on Feb 19, 2010 10:23 am • link • report

Is there a close italics tag missing somewhere above? It doesn't seem to be a problem in the comment view though.

by Steve S on Feb 19, 2010 10:32 am • link • report

Froggie, what reasons do you have for keeping the penny? They cost more than they're worth. It's not like we'd be getting rid of cents, just the penny for cash transactions.

I'd like a 1-dollar coin and for the mint to stop printing 1-dollar bills. They can make more 2-dollar bills if they like, but a 2-dollar coin would work better.

by Alex B. on Feb 19, 2010 10:48 am • link • report

Dear Harry Reid,

Look to the Jobs Bill and listen to DOT/NTSB. $1 billion for new rail cars creates and sustains long term economic growth.

F'n idiot.

by Redline SOS on Feb 19, 2010 11:39 am • link • report

Do NOT get rid of the penny. I won't let corporations or small businesses steal any more of my money then they already do.

If you want to talk eliminating something, let's talk eliminating the gigantic failure that is capitalism.

by Redline SOS on Feb 19, 2010 11:40 am • link • report

@Michael Perkins

I agree that eliminating the penny is a good idea but it is simply not going to happen anytime for political reasons. The idea has been proposed many times before and is always torpedoed by the members of congress from Denver and Philadelphia (where pennies are minted.)

by Jacob on Feb 19, 2010 1:35 pm • link • report

I thought it was John Kyl of Arizona, protecting his state's zinc interests.

by Michael Perkins on Feb 19, 2010 1:39 pm • link • report

Coins last MANY times as long as bills, and saves the government money in the long run. The only downside to dollar coins is the heft, but wallet makers would adjust I'm sure (as they have in the UK and continental Europe).

Give us a $1 and $2 coin! Get rid of the dollar bill and penny!

by Reza on Feb 19, 2010 1:42 pm • link • report

Typically, national mints take raw materials, capital and labor and make coins which are worth more than the inputs, turning a profit. However, for the penny and now the nickel, the mint loses money with every coin.

My proposal isn't to eliminate the penny per se, but to charge the Mint's customers what it costs to make them.
I'm sure that businesses would adjust their prices to reduce the need for pennies if it cost them 1.7 cents to get a newly minted penny from the bank, who got it from the Mint.

Banks might even pay a premium for people bringing in pennies so they wouldn't have to buy so many coins from the Mint. There are a lot of idle pennies out there.

Either that, or make the pennies out of something even more worthless than copper-clad zinc, like Aluminum or something. I think that's the cheapest corrosion-resistant metal.

by Michael Perkins on Feb 19, 2010 1:48 pm • link • report

I don't think we need a Penny either. But I also don't think we need a self-conscious reference to Lincoln's consolidation of US power, also in the style of the time.

At the very least, there were some more attractive and interesting proposals.

by Neil Flanagan on Feb 19, 2010 2:15 pm • link • report

What people like Redline SOS don't understand is that ending the production of the penny doesn't end penny pricing.

If your bill is $22.12 and you pay by debit or credit card, then you still get charged that exact amount.

Meanwhile, the rounding would be legally mandated for coin transactions. Something costing 10,11 or 12 cents for example would always round down. 13, 14 and 15 would always round up. In the end, there's no loss to the consumer or business.

As for the $2 coin, I'm against it. The government just needs to work to make the $2 bill more popular.

What's the post popular large bill? $20. The $10 is common and the $50 is rare. It makes no sense that in small bills, the $1 is the most common and the $2 is the most rare.

by J on Feb 19, 2010 5:51 pm • link • report

You don't even have to mandate pricing changes. Just stop making pennies. The market will figure out how much pennies are really worth. If businesses refuse to fix their prices or customers continue to demand penny change, they'll pay a premium for pennies. Once the premium reaches the cost of making pennies, start the mint again. No government mandates or intervention required.

Of the proposals NF pointed out, I like the one with the shield and banner and 1Â¢ Coins with numbers on them are good for foreigners. Don't need to know English to understand it's not worth much.

(hoping to turn in my 400-pound penny collection for a 20% profit! -- just kidding)

by Michael Perkins on Feb 19, 2010 6:55 pm • link • report

I'd almost prefer going as far as Japan does and getting rid of bills for anything smaller than a $10. There are 100 yen and 500 yen coins, and everything above that is a bill. Of course, people would complain about having that much pocket change, but that's what change purses are for. If nothing else, it makes working with vending machines so much easier when you don't have to fight to shove a wrinkled, disintegrating one-dollar bill into the slot!

by sg on Feb 20, 2010 12:56 pm • link • report

For you all that agree with getting rid of the penny what is your plan to stop prices from rising.

Everything will go up 4 cents there is not one company that would lower prices.

Something may not effect you but will effect others and a raise of 4 cents will affect some.

We could raise the minimum rage for all states so that it is a value that always ends in a 5 or 0

Another problem there will be a legal battle because this is discrimination of people with debit/credit cards and those without.

Since where talking about getting rid of money; why not do this have only the following denominations of coins and paper currency.

coins

1cent
10 cent
50 cent coin
2 dollar coin

if you have a 1 cent and a 10 cent coin there is no need for a 5 cent coin and the same with a 25 cent coin.

paper currency

5 dollar bill
20 dollar bill
100 dollar bill

there is no need for all the denominations of currency we have we dont need 1,2,5,10,20,50,100 bills all we really need is 3 or 4 of them.

shrink the sizes of all coins to save metal
use a different metal for each coin or different colour coating.

penny the size of a dime
dime size of a penny
50 cent coin the size of quarter
2 dollar coin the size of 1 dollar coin

Change all paper currency so that it is distinguishable by the blind and sight impaired.

Every other country 1st world or 3rd world does this to help the blind why dont we, we straight up make things hard as possible for the blind when they dont have to be.

I have some currency from different banks from the 19th century before the federal reserve and even those notes are of different sizes.

by kk on Feb 21, 2010 5:29 pm • link • report

Getting rid of the penny does not mean getting rid of cents.

by Alex B. on Feb 21, 2010 5:37 pm • link • report

Redline SOS said:

If you want to talk eliminating something, let's talk eliminating the gigantic failure that is capitalism.

I thought Philosophy 101 with the burnt-out Marxist professor was taught in the fall semester...

by MPC on Feb 21, 2010 8:47 pm • link • report

The smallest coin 75 years ago was a penny, and it was worth roughly what a quarter is worth today. How could they have possibly managed without tiny fractions of a penny? Everyone must have always felt completely ripped off.

The concept that everyone would raise their prices to game the rounding system doesn't work, because people buy more than one item, and taxes differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Once you have more than one item, that argument breaks down.

I would argue get rid of the penny AND the nickel. Stop printing $1 bills and ramp up the $2's.

That said, euros come in 1,2 & 5 unit coins and bills start at 10 euros. So I wouldn't be opposed to having the $5 be the smallest bill.

by Steve O on Feb 21, 2010 11:09 pm • link • report