It cost 1.7 cents to make a penny this year, and 8 cents to make a nickel

washingtonpost.com

5 pointsdollaaron3 comments

The first bar chart shows how many cents it costs to make one of each of the coins and a dollar bill. The second bar chart shows how much it costs to make a dollar's worth of each coin and a dollar bill. Shouldn't both charts have the same cost for the dollar bill? Am I missing something?

There's a note below the second chart. They're talking about the value of producing these over a period of time.

Coins last much longer, 25 years compared to 6 years for a dollar bill. So, how much do they really cost in the long run is what showing in the second chart.

Basically, despite the fact that bills last 6 years, it's still cheaper to replace them.

Ah... I knew I had to be missing something. That makes sense. Also seeing that coins last for about 25 years makes the cost to produce not seem as bad.

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