# Why are Dimes So Tiny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405 "2004-02-10T06:51:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/21 "2004-02-11T04:15:55Z")
> [@Flash-57](#): > > Quick Quiz: Using only US coins and bills less than $100 (minted in the last 50 years), what is the maximum amount of money you can have in your pocket without being able to make exact change for any US coin or bill (minted in the last 50 years), including a $100 bill? Exchanging a SBA dollar for a paper dollar, for example, doesn’t count as making change. Is the answer $98.94? ---
**Author:** ![Arturius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Arturius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arturius)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/22 "2004-02-11T04:20:33Z")
I like the bit of the simpsons about this: “If you’ve handled a penny, the government has your dna. Why do you think they keep them in circulation” Good conspiracy theory 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/23 "2004-02-11T04:21:00Z")
They keep the weight off with all that marching. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/24 "2004-02-11T04:40:20Z")
> [@Mausmagill](#): > > Oz got rid of their penny years ago, and no one, as far as I could tell, was bothered by the missing 2 cents, because they would get an additional 2 later on. (0-2 cents =\> 0, 3-5 cents =\> 5) I could be wrong though, I was only there for a month. Any Ozzies wanna chime in? Yes, as you say we got rid of 1 and 2 cent pieces some years ago, Caused no problems whatsoever, and relieved my pockets of a lot of weight. I really notice when I come to the US how much extra metal I need to carry around. At more or less the same time we got rid of 1 and 2 dollar notes in favour of coins though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/25 "2004-02-11T07:46:54Z")
Anyone who would like to get rid of their “nuisance money” do, please, contact me. I say this only half in jest, as I’ve known people who actually would throw pennies in the trash with a sneer, rather than toss them in a charity canister or whatever. 200 pennies will get me a drink at happy hour is all I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![Ljut\_strsljen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Ljut\_strsljen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ljut_strsljen)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/26 "2004-02-11T08:22:42Z")
> [@Flash-57](#): > > I think they should get rid of the penny, nickel, dime, and paper one-dollar bill. Round everything to the nearest quarter. The only coins you’d have are the quarter and the dollar coin. Before this gets out of hand, let us pause to consider the ramifications for the Exotic\* Dancing Industry… …cold coins :eek: cheers! - Although anything that occurs nightly in places like Parkersburg, WV would be hard-pressed to call itself exotic… ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/27 "2004-02-11T16:05:40Z")
I bow to those who have taken more than high school economics, unlike myself. I suppose I do have a big stupid jar of mostly pennies, that I occasionally wrap and exchange for like $7.50 every couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Flash-57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/839c29/32.png) [@Flash-57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flash-57)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/28 "2004-02-11T18:09:24Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Is the answer $98.94? Nope. Higher. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/29 "2004-02-11T18:57:00Z")
> [@sturmhauke](#): > > I suppose I do have a big stupid jar of mostly pennies, that I occasionally wrap and exchange for like $7.50 every couple of years. Hopefully someone who really knows the truth will confirm or refute this, but isn’t it a fact that coins represent an obligation of the Treasury? And therefore that pennies withheld from circulation represent an extra profit for them, since they never return to the banking system? If so, maybe that’s another reason the government likes to keep them in circulation. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/30 "2004-02-11T20:18:10Z")
> [@Flash-57](#): > > Quick Quiz: Using only US coins and bills less than $100 (minted in the last 50 years), what is the maximum amount of money you can have in your pocket without being able to make exact change for any US coin or bill (minted in the last 50 years), including a $100 bill? Exchanging a SBA dollar for a paper dollar, for example, doesn’t count as making change. 1 $50 4 $20s 1 $5 4 $2s 1 $1 1 .50 1 .25 4 .10s 4 .1s = $145.19 Right? ---
**Author:** ![Flash-57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/839c29/32.png) [@Flash-57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flash-57)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/31 "2004-02-11T20:46:17Z")
> [@Ljut strsljen](#): > > Before this gets out of hand, let us pause to consider the ramifications for the Exotic\* Dancing Industry…cold coins Not to worry. I keep my coins in a warm place. Besides, I’d think the dancers would welcome the change (pun intended). The use of $2 bills would soar and double their income! ---
**Author:** ![Flash-57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/839c29/32.png) [@Flash-57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flash-57)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/32 "2004-02-11T20:56:19Z")
> [@John Corrado](#): > > 1 $50 > 4 $20s > 1 $5 > 4 $2s > 1 $1 > 1 .50 > 1 .25 > 4 .10s > 4 .1s > > = $145.19 > > Right? Nope. You can make change for a $5, $10, and $50. But, you’re obviously close. Remove the $1 and you’ve got the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Sirreal72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sirreal72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sirreal72)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/33 "2004-02-12T03:36:05Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Hopefully someone who really knows the truth will confirm or refute this, but isn’t it a fact that coins represent an obligation of the Treasury? And therefore that pennies withheld from circulation represent an extra profit for them, since they never return to the banking system? If so, maybe that’s another reason the government likes to keep them in circulation. Another 2 reasons why not everyone is in a hurry to do away with the penny: Advertizers have found they can sell more product at $.99 than for $1…why? Who knows…b/c humans are strange maybe? Ever notice how gas prices are listed with the tenths of a cent listed? $1.50 a gallon? Outrageous!..$1.498? Grumble, grumble…ok. (Yes I know most people pay alot more than that…price is relative.) Reason 2: SPLOSTS. (Special Local Option Sales Tax) Local goverments LOVE adding an extra penny sales tax to pay for education, road improvement, enviromental cleanup…whatever they can sell to the public for the cost of a few pennies. Of course those few pennies add up to millions of $$ in revenue each year, and as soon as one SPLOST ends, they come up with a reason for a new one. Selling a penny tax is one thing…selling a nickle tax? 1/20 of a dollar?!? The public wouldn’t hear of it! Personally I’d just as soon do away with most money, go to the electronic cash. I already use my debit card to pay for groceries, gasoline, most department store purchases…pay all my bills online. What I use bills/coins for mostly is the damn vending machines that take my money half the time. As for exotic dancers…well, who says the clubs couldn’t sell you paper tokens the dancers could trade in? Let’s face it…they have to break my $100s for $1s anyhow, might as well give me monopoly money…it’s not leaving the premises in MY pocket! 🙂 (Not sure what the laws are for token money…but if casinos can issue poker chips, don’t see it as a problem.) ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/34 "2004-02-12T06:32:39Z")
NZ dumped $1 and $2 notes in 1991 in favour of coins and 1c and 2c pieces IIRC a little before that. There was a transition period of a couple of years when both old and new currencies were considered legal tender. But most kiwis do the majority of their transactions electronically and few carry much cash at all. Electronic transactions are carried out to the nearest cent while cash transactions are rounded to the nearest five cents. It seems to work fine. The Aussies did a similar thing on a similar time frame. The chief difference being the $1 and $2 coins. With the copper coins now gone, we have a brass coloured $1 slightly larger than a 10c piece and a $2 coin bigger again but slightly smaller than a 20c piece. Aussies have a $2 coin that is much smaller than their $1 coin which is always counterintuitive. As a consequence it is very easy to have $20 or $30 in coinage stuffing the wallet when visiting Australia. I think I circulate NZ’s $2 coins a lot faster. As an aside, I have always considered the US quarter to be a strange denomenation. 25 cents just seems unusual. But maybe that’s just me. I grew up on twenties and fifties. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/35 "2004-02-12T07:01:36Z")
> [@j\_sum1](#): > > … > As an aside, I have always considered the US quarter to be a strange denomenation. 25 cents just seems unusual. But maybe that’s just me. I grew up on twenties and fifties. Thomas Jefferson actually proposed a twenty cent piece. The quarter was closer to the Spanish coinage which was in widespread use at the time (remember “two bits”?). Later, a twenty cent coin WAS minted for a while (1875-78), and it was singularly unsuccessful. It was also minted for a reason that had a lot to do with politics - in the western part of the country, there was a shortage of small coins because the Denver mint wasn’t authorized to mint nickels and pennies - they weren’t SILVER, and the silver mines had a lot of clout in the west. Rather than allowing the sane solution of authorizing Denver to mint pennies and nickels, they came up with the 20 cent piece, which would be silver, minted in Denver, and allow ten cents change on a ten cent purchase. Apparently, a lot of things cost ten cents, and people were getting shortchanged when they bought them with quarters and got a dime or a Spanish bit (12 1/2 cents) back: [http://www.coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/PParticles/20cpiece.htm](http://www.coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/PParticles/20cpiece.htm) BTW, if you think a dime is small, look up the silver 3 cent piece (the “trime”) that was minted for a while, too. The justification for that one was that stamps cost 3 cents at the time. ---
**Author:** ![RobertP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e8cbc/32.png) [@RobertP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobertP)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/36 "2004-02-12T09:00:52Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Nowdays pennys are 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). Small hijack. Wanna know what’s cool? Try melting a modern penny over a lighter. Because the zinc melts at a temperature below copper, the middle layer turns to liquid, while the top stays solid. Have fun watching Lincoln’s face get distorted like silly putty. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/37 "2004-02-12T15:06:12Z")
> [@Sirreal72](#): > > …Advertizers have found they can sell more product at $.99 than for $1…why? Who knows…b/c humans are strange maybe? Ever notice how gas prices are listed with the tenths of a cent listed? > > Reason 2: SPLOSTS. (Special Local Option Sales Tax) Local goverments LOVE adding an extra penny sales tax to pay for education, road improvement, enviromental cleanup…whatever they can sell to the public for the cost of a few pennies. Of course those few pennies add up to millions of $$ in revenue each year, and as soon as one SPLOST ends, they come up with a reason for a new one. Selling a penny tax is one thing…selling a nickle tax? 1/20 of a dollar?!? The public wouldn’t hear of it! Read my previous post. You don’t change the prices. You just round at the register if you’re paying cash. We already do this with gasoline. What do you do today if you buy exactly one gallon of gas at $1.799 per gallon? While you only owe $1.799, you pay $1.80, because they round at the register. (Actually, with gasoline, they round whether you use cash or not, but I hope you see the point.) ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/38 "2004-02-12T15:24:45Z")
> [@Sirreal72](#): > > Reason 2: SPLOSTS. (Special Local Option Sales Tax) Local goverments LOVE adding an extra penny sales tax to pay for education, road improvement, enviromental cleanup…whatever they can sell to the public for the cost of a few pennies. Of course those few pennies add up to millions of $$ in revenue each year, and as soon as one SPLOST ends, they come up with a reason for a new one. Selling a penny tax is one thing…selling a nickle tax? 1/20 of a dollar?!? The public wouldn’t hear of it! As **robby** said, most advocates would only have us round off totals, but even if we did round off all prices to the nearest five cents, your first Reason would hold, but this one would not. You think that now the smallest tax increase we can have is 1%, because the penny is 1% of a dollar. But what’s so special about the dollar that we have to put it in terms of that? The nickel is 1% of the $5 bill, so we could have a 1% tax without pennies easily. You might say that the tax won’t work out to an even amount of currency, but think about it - it doesn’t work out to an even amount now! 6% tax on a $12.21 purchase is 73.26 cents. It’s not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![petre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@petre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petre)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/39 "2004-02-12T15:51:22Z")
It seems to me the treasury does a lot of study to determine how many of each coin it needs to mint each year. Would an alternate solution be to make the penny less popular and drop out of circulation on its own? How about just making it permissable to round debts/prices to the next nickel instead of penny, but continue to mint pennies as long as people want to use them? I suppose some places might be slow to eliminate the penny from their registers for fear of those few customers storming out over losing a big 4 cents, but I’ll bet it wouldn’t be long before the penny dropped off the map. ---
**Author:** ![Flash-57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/839c29/32.png) [@Flash-57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flash-57)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405/40 "2004-02-12T18:08:12Z")
> [@petre](#): > > Would an alternate solution be to make the penny less popular and drop out of circulation on its own? How about just making it permissable to round debts/prices to the next nickel instead of penny Actually, the best way to make the penny (or any other coin) drop out of circulation is to simply stop printing as many. If the mint dropped penny production to about 5% of what it is today, banks and stores would have a harder time keeping them in stock, so to speak. Sooner or later, people and stores would avoid the hassle by simply rounding all the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-dimes-so-tiny/228405.md?page=3)