https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/why-do-us-coins-seem-to-be-in-short-supply-coin-shortage.htm
While there is an adequate overall amount of coins in the economy, the slowed pace of circulation has reduced available inventories in some areas of the country.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/why-you-cant-get-change-at-the-grocery-store-coin-shortage.html
There isn’t a lack of coins right now — rather, coins aren’t circulating like they normally do.
So this is the mainstream narrative.
I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the rest of you guys, but in this rare case I have no reason to believe in a different truth. Sure, some will say this is all part of the globalist agenda to eliminate cash slowly but surely, and usher in a new digital currency after the profit from the planned destruction of USD (and with it likely all other known fiat). One world currency, blah blah blah.
Personally I think it's ridiculous to assume that a one-world currency is even possible. There is no way the central bankers in say Russia and China would agree to use such a currency. The war against American imperialism via the Petrodollar has only intensified as the years go by, and we get more and more desperate to maintain worldwide dominance.
So we have a coin shortage? So what?
Exactly. Who cares? Coins are pointless anyway. Back in the day people used to actually care about money because they knew better.
Why would I ever want this worthless paper garbage?
Ironic how people today are saying this about crypto and not their own currency.
This is exactly why paper money was pegged to gold, so citizens would accept it as actual money. Now that the frog has been boiling slowly for over a century, and most people were born into a system that doesn't even have that peg, nobody cares. Money is worth money and nobody thinks about it.
Back to my point.
Dimes, Quarters, Half-dollars, and Silver-dollars all used to have silver in them. Have you ever wondered why these coins have ridges on the sides, while pennies and nickels are smooth? I never actually considered this fact until this year, and I had to put 2 and 2 together myself.
I read something about people who used to shave the sides of coins and then turn them back in for their full value. That's free silver shavings right there. Therefore, the obvious reason to include ridges on a silver coin is so anyone can look at the coin and see if it's been shaved smooth. Obviously this type of debasement is not profitable for pennies and nickels because silver is worth more, so we see smooth edges on those coins.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_coin_debasement
Apparently there are two other kinds of coin debasement that I never even knew about until just now.
In the process of sweating, coins were placed in a bag and shaken. The bits of metal that had worn off the coins were recovered from the bottom of the bag. Sweating tended to wear the coin in a more natural way than clipping, and so was harder to detect.
LOL! Shake a bag of coins and collect your money at the bottom. Classic!
Plugging
If the coin was large, a hole could be punched out of the middle, and the face of the coin hammered to close up the hole.
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/coin-specifications
As we see today coins are made of much more valueless metals such as Zinc, Nickel, and Copper. So why do quarters and dimes still have ridges on them? Well, people would notice if they didn't and start asking questions. Nobody wants that.
When it really comes down to it coins are totally pointless today, we might as well get rid of them. The cost to make pennies and nickels is more than the value of the coin itself. And they say Bitcoin is a waste of resources! Yikes!
A lot of people make the argument that you can't get rid of coins because that would destroy the divisibility of money. In order for money to be money, it has to be divisible. But guess what? You used to be able to buy things with a single penny.
In fact, half pennies used to be a thing because one penny still wasn't small enough. We've had over 100 years to completely inflate USD. Every time a currency loses value, its divisibility increases. Getting rid of all coins wouldn't be any different than the divisibility we had back in the day.
If it takes a wheelbarrow full of cash to buy a loaf of bread, guess what? Coins are kinda pointless (if you're going by their printed face value, which is obviously lower than their actual value). We might as well get rid of coins because they are already completely pointless and a waste of resources. And this is coming from someone who had a coin collection in middle school. I still have a dozen of those old Liberty Head silver dollars, and guess what? All of their value lies in their silver content even though they are 100-year-old antiques. Go figure.
Conclusion
Rather than rounding to the nearest penny, America could easily get away with simply rounding to the nearest quarter. Quarters are arguably the only coin that makes sense to keep printing these days. This doesn't hurt our divisibility. A quarter today is worth less than a penny 100 years ago. Sad, but true.
The next time you look at a dime and a nickel, remember how ridiculous these two coins are. Dimes have ridges on them even though they are made of 90% copper. Nickels are huge compared to dimes and have more than twice the nickel, which is worth more than twice copper. Up is down, down is up.
Nickel is also a wartime metal and increases in price during conflict.
So are we heading into a cashless society? Who knows. However, it was really weird when China was saying they needed to burn their money and the FED was saying they have no plans to get rid of cash due to the virus. Even the mainstream narrative of COVID admits that the virus can only survive a maximum of three days on certain materials (plastic).
It's lifespan on cash is likely more like one day because its structure gets busted by moisture and rough surfaces (which cash has). Therefore infected cash only needs to sit around for two days to automatically become virus free without any doctoring. Funny how the mainstream narrative can become so convoluted that it starts contradicting itself in the most simplest of terms.
Personally I believe that crypto is going to start taking over. Once enough people become crypto rich they are going to want to diversify into other types of money. I believe this will lead to the resurgence of gold and silver coins being minted privately.
We already did this with Steem!
Do we really think it ends here? This is free advertising and legitimate money in the form of actual precious metals. I envision a time of 3D-printing decentralized garage factories that are pumping out coins like this and whatever else for every network out there. Why not?
Having a silver Steem round is like having a tattoo with your ex-girlfriend's name on it :D
When it really comes down to it, crypto cannot exist without the Internet. What if the internet goes down? The wealthy are going to want precious metals on hand. If shit really hits the fan food, water, power, and shelter become the most valuable resources. Diversify accordingly.