--- title: Coins Cost More to Make Than They're Worth — and the U.S. Mint Is Looking for Solutions description: The U.S. Mint is proposing a switch to producing nickels, dimes and quarters with a different blend of metals in order to save money. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 599 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 published: '2023-04-24T14:13:11.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:28:38.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News word_count: 475 canonical: https://money.com/coin-costs-us-mint-solutions/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![A penny, a quarter, a dime and a nickel, in a large size on a black background](https://img.money.com/2023/04/News-Coins-Alternative-Metals.jpg) The cost of making coins has gone through the roof lately — and the U.S. Mint wants to use a cheaper metal composition for nickels, dimes and quarters to address the problem. Here's the hangup: Making a nickel costs more than double what it’s worth. As of last year, every nickel cost 10.4 cents to make, up 40.2% from 7.4 cents in 2020, according to a [biennial mint report](https://www.usmint.gov/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2022-USM-Biennial-Report_P5_FINAL.pdf) published last week. Dimes and quarters are worth more than they cost, but the margins for both have shrunk significantly over the past two years. The cost to make a dime increased from 3.7 cents in 2020 to 5 cents in 2022 — a 34.9% increase. Meanwhile, the cost to make a quarter went from 8.6 cents to 11.1 cents — a 28.7% increase. The mint's report proposes that the agency switch to producing nickels, dimes and quarters with a different composition of metals in order to save money. Despite their name, nickels haven't been made solely of nickel in decades. Instead, nickels, dimes and quarters are coated with a nickel-copper mixture, which mostly covers an all-copper inside layer. By using more copper and less nickel — a 80/20 ratio instead of 75/25 — the mint says it can bring costs down. Based on 2022 volumes, the mint estimates the savings would add up to about $12 million. - It would take about a year to make the switch if the agency gets approval from Congress, according to the report. - Testing has been completed, and the mint says there would be minimal impact, if any, to the public. Coins made with an 80/20 composition would still work at vending machines, for instance. - Beyond the nickel-copper composition change, the mint is also conducting research on other “alternative metal” options that could make it cheaper to produce coins. - For example, it's testing the possibility of a copper-plated steel penny — but so far it looks like that option could be more expensive than the current penny, which cost 2.7 cents to make in 2022. ## The next step A bipartisan bill [reintroduced in the Senate Thursday](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1228/all-info) would give the mint the authority to switch to using cheaper metal contents for making coins. It's sponsored by Sen. Margaret Hassan, D-N.H., and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. - The bill is a renewed attempt to give the mint this authority after a previous version stalled out in the Senate despite being passed in the House with overwhelming bipartisan support in December 2020. - Ernst told [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/20/senators-to-introduce-bill-allowing-us-mint-to-alter-coins-metal-content.html) it makes no sense how much it costs to make coins, especially dimes: “Only Washington could lose money making money," she said. [8 Best Gold IRA Companies of 2023](https://money.com/best-gold-ira-companies/) [Dollar Scholar Asks: Why Can't the Government Just Print More Money?](https://money.com/dollar-scholar-government-print-more-money/) [Gold Prices Are Climbing. Should You Invest?](https://money.com/gold-prices-climbing-should-you-invest/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/coin-costs-us-mint-solutions/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Money", "item": "https://money.com/money/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Coins Cost More to Make Than They're Worth — and the U.S. Mint Is Looking for Solutions" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/coin-costs-us-mint-solutions/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/coin-costs-us-mint-solutions/", "name": "Coins Cost More to Make Than They're Worth — and the U.S. Mint Is Looking for Solutions", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-04-24T14:13:11.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/coin-costs-us-mint-solutions/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/coin-costs-us-mint-solutions/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:28:38.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Coins Cost More to Make Than They're Worth — and the U.S. Mint Is Looking for Solutions", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/04/News-Coins-Alternative-Metals.jpg", "width": 2304, "height": 1536, "caption": "News-Coins-Alternative-Metals" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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