Should the United States drop the cent in favor of a 2-cent piece? Why or why not?

I believe that the U.S. should no longer mint cents for circulation, as it is a losing proposition (the Mint may wish to include in sets sold to collectors, as a premium well above cost-of-production is charged). Fractional prices will either be displayed in twentieths of a dollar, or those ending in a hundredth of a dollar will simply be rounded up or down to the next twentieth of a dollar when payment is made in cash. James Sibley Spring, Texas

If the cent would be dropped, what would be the point of a 2-cent piece? The presence of the cent piece provides a sense of continuity with our past, makes our dollar seem more stable, and remains an effective and practical way to teach children about the metric system.

Michael Johnson Address withheld

The U.S. should drop the 1-cent piece. It costs more to mint than it’s worth and can’t even be used to buy penny candy anymore. However, it should not be replaced by the 2-cent piece, simply round all purchases to the nearest 5 cents.

Jim Attwood Address withheld

We should drop the cent and not add a 2-cent. The cent is almost valueless and a 2-cent would be little better. The lowest denomination should be the 5-cent piece.

I would also abolish the dollar note in favor of the dollar coin and have our lowest note a $2 bill.

Michael S. Address withheld

I don’t think a 2-cent coin would serve any useful purpose. Instead of having 1-cent coins piling up we would have 2-cent coins. Why don’t we just quit making 1-cent coins and solve the many problems we have.

Jack Stoffel Anderson, Calif.

If minimum wage gets up to $15/hr, let’s do away with the cent, nickel and dime. The quarter would equal one minute of wages. Round the total price of a purchase to the nearest quarter. Why argue over less than a minute of wages?

Richard Bumpus Marion, Mass.

Drop the cent in favor of the 5-cent piece. Ask yourself: What can you buy for 1 cent, or 2 cents?

Australia and New Zealand have done without cents without any suffering.

Jim Duncan New Zealand

Drop all coins except the quarter.

Jerry Probst South Sioux City, Neb.

Yes, drop the cent and replace it with a 2-cent. It would save the cost of producing the cent.

Should also replace the nickel with a 3-cent trime. This would save billions of dollars.

Richard Connecticut

No. Waste of time, and anyone under 30 would ignore it, or treat it as 1 cent.

David Nederostek Meadowbrook, Pa.

Yes, drop the cent and automatically round up or down to the nearest nickel. Can’t see how a 2-cent piece could possibly work. Typical clerks in retail are frequently unable to handle making change for a purchase made with $2 bills, and heaven help if you pay for something like a $9.25 purchase with a $10 bill and a quarter and request a paper dollar back.

Robert Feiler Address withheld

Yes. Even a 2-1/2-cent piece would work. Just round up or down to the nearest dollar. Another factor is cost. A penny costs

I think 2-3 cents) to produce. Just remove the “one cent” and replace with “two cents” and the only cost should be the dies. Canada was successful at removing their penny, we can as well.

Steve Weis Address withheld

The question is two-part. My answer is two-part.

1. Drop the 1-cent piece.

2. Do not replace it with a 2-cent piece. Further thoughts on topic:

A. Do not demonetize the 1-cent piece. It will eventually fade from circulation.

B. Make 2033 the last year of minting the Lincoln 1-cent piece; that year will be the coin’s 125th year (inclusive). A coin that is iconic in U.S. numismatics such as the Lincoln cent deserves a full 125 years of production (we missed the earlier opportunity in 2008 ... or we can wait until 2058).

Another consideration: Don’t stop minting the 1-cent piece, but do with it as is now done with the Kennedy half dollar: mint only for inclusion in proof and mint sets.

Ranse Address withheld

I’m all in. In fact, honor current issued 1-cent as 2-cent pieces. An aluminum 2-cent, or other metal, would use the same design.

Now, as new 2-cent pieces are minted, the 1-cent pieces being returned to financial intuitions would be sent in for melting.

Mike White Lake Dallas, Texas

Yes, we should drop the 1-cent piece but not add a 2-cent piece. We should round all transactions to the nearest 5 cents or even 10 cents, to be frank.

Vincent Bellman Address withheld

The idea of a 2-cent coin is intriguing. Cash transactions would work the same

way as rounding to the nearest 5 cents, so that wouldn’t cause any issues.

For coin collectors, it would cause a stir. Undoubtedly causing increased interest in collecting 1-cent coins. It would also create an eye opener for the general public, many of whom never knew the U.S. produced the denomination previously.

My only concern would be the specifications (size, color, etc.) causing confusion if it looked too similar to the current cent. Or worse, if looked too unique (a purple square, for example).

Alan Laughters Telford, Tenn.

Sounds good, but why not a 3-cent? Roy Thacker Address withheld

Our U.S. government should drop the cent and nickel. These are used for sales tax only, sometimes only once, and get dropped in a bucket or even thrown out. I know this may contribute to inflation,

but I believe we are already past that (just bite the bullet). The amount of copper and nickel that is being wasted is atrocious. This would make the size of our money more size-appropriate with the dime, quarter and half. (There is more nickel and copper in the nickel than in the dime.) Sales could be calculated just like before since most purchases are done by credit or debit cards. Cash sales could be rounded up or down. And like the half is now, the cent and nickel could be made available to order for collectors or anyone else, and in proof sets.

This from a person who had been collecting coins since 1959.

Dewey D. North Carolina

Two- cent coin. Yes, we had one once. But we also had the 1 cents at the same time.

It would just cause everything to go up. Cost, taxes. Same way if they do away with the penny. Everything would go up to the nickel.

Larry Address withheld

Drop the U.S. dollar as it is worthless now. Replace it with the Chinese yuan! Michael Javick Address withheld

My own suggestion, a number of years ago when I learned that both the cent and the nickel cost more to coin than their actual value, would be to replace both with a half dime-sized coin. It would be smaller and would be more reasonable to coin and could have the same composition as the current cent. Replacing the cent with a 2-cent piece would not help very much except cent production would decline.

Henry T. Hettger Address withheld

I vote a resounding yes to the idea of the U.S. Mint and Treasury dropping the 1-cent piece as a circulation strike and replace with a circulating 2-cent piece. Maybe keep annually striking the 1-cent piece as they now do the half dollars as NIFC (not intended for circulation).

Jack Schadegg Rockville, Md.