學會愛你的硬幣。這就是Coinstar首席執行官Kevin McColly的信息

這就是Coinstar首席執行官Kevin McColly的信息，Coinstar的首席執行官是您在超市中看到的那些鑄造機器背後的公司。

Learn to love your coins.

學會愛你的硬幣。

That’s the message from Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, the company behind those coin-cashing machines you see in supermarkets.

這就是Coinstar首席執行官Kevin McColly的信息，Coinstar的首席執行官是您在超市中看到的那些鑄造機器背後的公司。

American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all.

據美聯儲稱，美國消費者在2023年僅以現金付款的16％。一項2022年的皮尤（Pew）調查發現，五分之二的消費者根本不使用現金。

President Donald Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their value. (Intriguingly, the same is true of nickels.)

唐納德·特朗普總統已命令財政部停止鑄造便士，因為他們的生產成本超過了其價值。 （有趣的是，鎳也是如此。）

Many Americans regard both nickels and pennies as more nuisance than currency. The typical household is sitting on $60 to $90 in neglected coins, enough to fill one or two pint-size beer mugs, according to the Federal Reserve. Americans throw away millions of dollars in coins every year, literally treating them like trash.

許多美國人認為鎳和便士比貨幣更令人討厭。據美聯儲稱，這家典型的家庭坐落在60至90美元的被忽視的硬幣上，足以填充一兩個品脫大小的啤酒杯。美國人每年扔掉數百萬美元的硬幣，從字面上看他們像垃圾一樣對待。

Why do we treat coins like trash? McColly thinks we should change the way we think about coins.

為什麼我們將硬幣像垃圾一樣對待？麥考莉認為我們應該改變對硬幣的思考方式。

To state the obvious, coins are worth money. Coinstar converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58 in buying power.

要陳述顯而易見的硬幣是值得的。 Coinstar每年將30億美元的硬幣轉換為可支出的現金，一次一個硬幣罐。平均罐子的購買力為58美元。

Most of us don’t realize how much our coins are worth. Thus, a trip to a coin-exchange kiosk (or a bank, or credit union) can yield a pleasant surprise.

我們大多數人都沒有意識到我們的硬幣值多少。因此，前往硬幣交換亭（或銀行或信用合作社）的旅行可能會帶來驚喜。

“People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,” McColly said. “It’s a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.”

麥考莉說：“人們低估了罐子的價值大約一半。” “這是一次非常愉快的經歷。人們對找到的錢有這種感覺。”

Certain groups of Americans – lower-income households, and those over 55 – still use plenty of cash, the Fed found, along with people who prefer to shop in person.

美聯儲發現的某些美國人 - 低收入家庭和55歲以上的家庭仍然使用大量現金，以及喜歡親自購物的人。

Coins aren't clutter, they're currency

硬幣不是混亂，它們是貨幣

As for the rest of us, McColly thinks it is time for a paradigm shift. Don’t think of your coins as clutter. Think of them as recyclables.

至於我們其他人，麥考莉認為是時候進行範式轉變了。不要將您的硬幣視為混亂。將它們視為可回收物。

“They’re metal,” he said, in case we needed a reminder. “And they have a long and useful life.”

“它們是金屬，”他說，以防我們需要提醒。 “而且他們有漫長而有用的生活。”

The Treasury still mints more than 5 billion coins a year, although the figure is dropping, according to the journal CoinNews.

據Coinnews雜誌報導，儘管這一數字正在下降，但財政部仍然每年造成超過50億個硬幣。

“Those are just natural resources coming out of the Earth”: Copper-plated zinc for pennies, copper-nickel alloys for nickels, dimes and quarters.

“這些只是從地球上彈出的自然資源”：銅鍍鋅的便士，用於鎳，角色和宿舍的銅煙合金。

His point: If Americans got serious about gathering up their idle coins and “recycling” them into the monetary system, the Mint wouldn’t have to make so many new ones.

他的觀點是：如果美國人認真考慮收集閒置硬幣並“回收”貨幣體系，那麼薄荷就不必製造這麼多新的。

Granted, McColly has a vested interest. His company collects a small cut of the coins that consumers deposit.

當然，麥考莉有既得利益。他的公司收集了消費者存入的一小件硬幣。

“You can go to your own bank or credit union and not pay any fee,” said Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert at NerdWallet. Both NerdWallet and Bankrate offer tip sheets on exchanging coins for cash. Most banks will take an account holder's coins for free, Bankrate reports, but not all, and you may need to roll the coins yourself.

Nerdwallet的個人理財專家金伯利·帕爾默（Kimberly Palmer）說：“您可以去自己的銀行或信用合作社，而不必支付任何費用。” Nerdwallet和Bankrate都提供交換硬幣現金的小費表。大多數銀行將免費提供帳戶持有人的硬幣，但不是全部，您可能需要自己捲起硬幣。

“I think that a lot of people probably do have hidden coins stashed around their home, and it can be worth their time to go and collect them,” Palmer said.

帕爾默說：“我認為很多人可能確實隱藏著藏在他們家中的硬幣，值得他們去收集它們。”

McColly notes that Coinstar generally waives its fee if the depositor chooses to trade in coins for a retail gift card, rather than cash.

麥考莉指出，如果存款人選擇用硬幣交易零售禮品卡，而不是現金，則Coinstar通常會免除其費用。

He is not alone in forecasting a future for the penny, the nickel, and their more profitable kin.

他並不孤單地預測一分錢，鎳和他們更有利可圖的親戚的未來。

“We’ve been much slower than parts of Europe and Asia to adopt mobile payments and contactless credit cards,” said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate.

Bankrate的高級行業分析師Ted Rossman說：“我們比歐洲和亞洲的部分地區要慢得多，以採用移動付款和非接觸式信用卡。”

The pandemic delivered a timely reminder of how much we still rely on cash: Consumers and business owners sat on their coins amid a global shutdown, seeding an actual coin shortage.

大流行及時提醒了我們仍然依賴現金：消費者和企業主在全球關閉中坐在硬幣上，播種了實際的硬幣短缺。

“It kind of froze the whole system,” Rossman said.

羅斯曼說：“這凍結了整個系統。”

Retiring coins: Where does it end?

退休硬幣：在哪裡結束？

While Trump has only instructed the Mint to stop making pennies, some voices have urged America to stop using them.

儘管特朗普只指示造幣廠停止賺錢，但一些聲音敦促美國停止使用它們。

The Common Cents Act, introduced on April 30 by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would round cash transactions to the nearest five cents.

兩黨議員團體於4月30日提出的《普通美分法》將把現金交易匯總到最近的五美分。

“The penny is outdated and inefficient and no longer serves the needs of our economy,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat.

紐約民主黨人參議員基爾斯頓·吉利布蘭德（Kirsten Gillibrand）說：“一分錢過時，不再滿足我們經濟的需求。”

But the bill could push the nation down a slippery slope.

但是該法案可能會將國家推向濕滑的斜坡。

“So, You Want to Get Rid of the Penny,” the New York Times mused in a recent headline. “Do You Have a Plan for the Nickel?”

“所以，你想擺脫一分錢，”《紐約時報》在最近的一個標題中沉思。 “你有鎳的計劃嗎？”

As it turns out, nixing the penny creates new problems. If America rids itself of pennies, the Times reported, the nation will soon find itself flooded with nickels.

事實證明，一分錢會帶來新的問題。據《紐約時報》報導，如果美國擺脫了便士，該國很快就會發現自己被鎳淹沒了。

The government loses nearly three cents on every penny it mints. On a nickel, it loses nearly nine cents. More nickels would mean steeper losses.

政府在每一分錢上都損失了近三分錢。在鎳上，它損失了近9美分。更多的鎳將意味著更陡峭的損失。