So what coins should we have in circulation?

I've been thinking about this for years now.  What coins and bills would be the most beneficial for US citizens to have in circulation?  Let's get down to the nitty gritty here. Despite its nostalgia, the penny has outlived its usefulness for at least 50 years.  Since it wasn't dropped in the sixties, then at least there should have been a public outcry 30 years ago, when the cost of minting the penny exceeded its face value.  But there wasn't.  Instead they made it out of cheaper materials. Then the same thing happened again almost 10 years ago. Now the penny costs more than twice its face value to mint. Why are we kicking this dead horse and then dragging it through the mud? The penny should be put out of its misery!

The nickel is suffering the same fate as the penny.  It costs more than twice its face value to mint. We should have gotten rid of the nickel at least 30 years ago. But we didn't.  Instead we're burdened with two completely worthless and useless coins.  But if you ditch the penny and the nickel, now you have a bit of a dilemma.  You now have to round everything to the nearest 10 cents, but we have a 25 cent coin, not a 20 cent coin like many other countries, and since the quarter is a multiple of 5 and not 10, you'll have to get rid of one other coin when you get rid of the nickel.  You have basically three options: (1) drop the quarter and force the gigantic half dollar back into circulation despite its limited utility (it won't fit in most coin slots) and perhaps end up having to redesign it because nobody wants to count out or receive 9 dimes as change, (2) drop the quarter and create a new 20 cent coin to replace it, or (3) drop the dime and keep the quarter and round all transactions to the nearest 1/4 of a dollar. The easiest by far is #3, because there will be no coin changes or redesigns and people can continue to use coins they are familiar with. Therefore, if the nickel is useless, the dime becomes obsolete as well.

Now, do we drop the quarter, half dollar, and dollar coin as well?  Just do away with the mint altogether?  I don't think so.  I believe coins still have their usefulness in limited quantities.  So we should probably keep the quarter at least.  The half dollar and dollar don't circulate well now, so unless something changes, the only coin in wide circulation would be the quarter.

We also have the dollar-coin/dollar-bill dilemma to deal with as well.  If we are making the money producing entities more efficient, then we need to get rid of one of these. We can see from the last fifty years that they do not circulate together.  We need one or the other. The most logical in my mind is to drop the bill and let the coin replace it. That way the quarter can have a friend.

So, what is my proposal?  It's simple. Congress should vote to immediately remove the lowest denomination coin (1¢) and bill ($1) from production and distribution. They should also recommend that business begin using the $2 bill and put it in the slot that use to hold the $1 bills.  This will appease the coin haters, since they'll have much fewer coins in their pocket with the $2 bill in regular circulation.

Next, Congress should put in motion to be accomplished within the next 5 years to remove the nickel (5¢) and dime (10¢) and the $2 bill from circulation, and start minting a $2 coin instead (one that's much smaller than the $1 coin).  They should also reduce the size of the half dollar so that it can circulate as well.  This will give us four coins; a $0.25, a much smaller $0.50, a $1, and a small $2.  We'll have 5 bills as well; a $5, a $10, a $20, a $50, and a $100.  This is what the circulation numbers show will work.  You'll have a significantly lighter pocket, with coins which you will actually spend, and your wallet won't be full of ones! (Don't you hate it, when all you have is a bunch of useless $1 bills in your wallet?) You feel rich, but in reality, you're not.

So Congress, let's get moving.  You're already 50 years behind.  Let's not make it 60 or 70. Unfortunately, this advice has fallen on deaf ears for a long time and I'm probably just beating a dead horse.