i need a smarty here?

Question

ok this just got to me the other day..... why is paper money more expensive than coins, when paper can tear, and coins cant?

Answer 1

Just thinking about it from an organizational standpoint here...
Obviously paper is much more easily organized than coins. We can quickly shuffle through paper than sort change. Also, there is a reason for the term "loose change". Coins are inherently geared toward misplacement. If we placed a hundred dollar monetary value on a quarter-sized coin, we would have to safely guard it with a coin purse. Coins are too heavy to carry in abundance and with modern technology, coins lack all intricacies of printed paper money. It would only be much too simple to duplicate coins as opposed to printing money. Though paper can tear, the fear of losing its value drives us to safeguard bills through apparatuses such as wallets. I'm sure you've lost many a coins and teared few, if any, bills to the extent of unusability.

Answer 2

Paper money is actually cheaper to produce, because paper costs considerably less than metal, even though they aren't precious metals. Recently, it's become more expensive to produce pennies and nickels than they're actually worth; the cost of producing a penny is a little over a cent and the cost of producing a nickel is a little more expensive than five cents.

Also, it's a lot easier to prevent counterfeiting with paper money; you can put watermarks, holograms, microscopic print, and the like into paper money without too much difficulty (if you're the US Printing and Engraving Bureau, anyways). Putting any of these countermeasures on coins would be difficult. You couldn't put a watermark in a coin, a hologram would be hard, and it would be hard to get exact enough to engrave microscopic print on metal.

I suppose you could also look at it the other way too. Coins last considerably longer than paper money, so it might be cheaper in the long run. That's why they want to replace dollar bills with dollar coins instead.

I'm sure you could debate it until you're blue in the face and swing it either way, but I would bet that the real issue is probably counterfeiting.

Answer 3

That makes a lot of sense. But coins have less value than paper money. Think about it, when you make coins all you have to do is melt metal, copper, silver, or maybe even gold then you just have to put it in the correct mold. But with paper, you have to cut down trees, make the correct color for it, then you have to use the correct ink and stich some light fabrics. So your answer is, paper money takes longer and more work to make but, coins don't.

Answer 4

As far as I know, it is less expensive to make paper money then it is to make coin money, not the other way around. Coin money last longer than paper anyway, but is expensive to make as it takes smelting and purifying the metal

Answer 5

Good point, but paper money actually is harder to make, you have to make it just right. For coins, all you have to do is melt copper and other metals. Also, coins are heavy and they take up alot of room, but you can fold paper money and it will seem like it's taking up no room at all.

Answer 6

its is less expensive to make paper money than coins paper money is also made out of a very light fabric thats why it doesnt mess up in the washer or when u get it wet

Answer 7

It is less expensive to make paper money than coins.

Answer 8

it's easier to make coins than it is to make notes! notes these days have security features which make it hard to forge/duplicate...the processes are alot more time consuming. and for that matter, precisely cos the value is higher, perhaps people won't wanna tear it up so easily, lol.

Answer 9

Because paper money doesn't fall out of your pocket and get lost in the couch cushions as easily.

Answer 10

the government replaces them every so often, i think a dollar bill only has a 90 day lifespan