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The following listening exercise from Business Spotlight Übungsheft (p. 5) is based on the article “The end of coins?” (Names & News, p. 8). Here, we provide you with the audio file and transcript.
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The end of coins?
Australia did it in 1992; Canada in 2013. In 2025, the U.S. also decided to stop producing its one-cent coin, known as the “penny.” Made of copper-platedverkupfertcopper-plated zinc, each penny is worth one cent but now costs almost four cents to make and distribute — more than double the cost ten years ago. In 2024, the U.S. TreasuryFinanzministeriumTreasury suffered a loss of over $85 million on penny production alone.
what’s moredazu kommt (noch)What’s more, people aren’t using coins much anymore. An estimated 60 percent of the U.S. coins in circulation are stash sth. awayhier: etw. bunkernstashed away in piggy bankSparschweinpiggy banks or lost down the backhier: Rückenlehneback of a couch. Getting rid of small-denominationmit kleinem Nennwertsmall-denomination coins saves the government money. However, a study by the Richmond Federal Reservehier: US-ZentralbankFederal Reserve estimates that eliminating the penny could cost American consumers $6 million a year, as businesses round up prices. And removing the five-cent coin (the “nickel”) would cost them $56 million a year.
Is getting rid of coins a first step toward getting rid of all cashBargeldcash? Many would welcome that, but digital-only money would put others at a disadvantage. Aaron Klein, an economist at the Brookings Institute, told Fortune that U.S. banks operate sth.etw. betreibenoperate a “reverseumgekehrtreverse Robinhood” system that rewards the rich. “The less money you have, the more money it costs you to access your money digitally,” he explains. “If you’re living paycheck (US)Gehaltsscheckpaycheck-to-paycheck, basic banking is very expensive.”