学会爱你的硬币。这就是Coinstar首席执行官Kevin McColly的信息

这就是Coinstar首席执行官Kevin McColly的信息，Coinstar的首席执行官是您在超市中看到的那些铸造机器背后的公司。

Learn to love your coins.

学会爱你的硬币。

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

这就是Coinstar首席执行官Kevin McColly的信息，Coinstar的首席执行官是您在超市中看到的那些铸造机器背后的公司。

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.

据美联储称，美国消费者在2023年仅以现金付款的16％。一项2022年的皮尤（Pew）调查发现，五分之二的消费者根本不使用现金。

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.)

唐纳德·特朗普总统已命令财政部停止铸造便士，因为他们的生产成本超过了其价值。 （有趣的是，镍也是如此。）

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.

许多美国人认为镍和便士比货币更令人讨厌。据美联储称，这家典型的家庭坐落在60至90美元的被忽视的硬币上，足以填充一两个品脱大小的啤酒杯。美国人每年扔掉数百万美元的硬币，从字面上看他们像垃圾一样对待。

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

为什么我们将硬币像垃圾一样对待？麦考莉认为我们应该改变对硬币的思考方式。

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.

要陈述显而易见的硬币是值得的。 Coinstar每年将30亿美元的硬币转换为可支出的现金，一次一个硬币罐。平均罐子的购买力为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.

我们大多数人都没有意识到我们的硬币值多少。因此，前往硬币交换亭（或银行或信用合作社）的旅行可能会带来惊喜。

“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.”

麦考莉说：“人们低估了罐子的价值大约一半。” “这是一次非常愉快的经历。人们对找到的钱有这种感觉。”

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.

美联储发现的某些美国人 - 低收入家庭和55岁以上的家庭仍然使用大量现金，以及喜欢亲自购物的人。

Coins aren't clutter, they're currency

硬币不是混乱，它们是货币

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.

至于我们其他人，麦考莉认为是时候进行范式转变了。不要将您的硬币视为混乱。将它们视为可回收物。

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

“它们是金属，”他说，以防我们需要提醒。 “而且他们有漫长而有用的生活。”

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

据Coinnews杂志报道，尽管这一数字正在下降，但财政部仍然每年造成超过50亿个硬币。

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

“这些只是从地球上弹出的自然资源”：铜镀锌的便士，用于镍，角色和宿舍的铜烟合金。

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.

他的观点是：如果美国人认真考虑收集闲置硬币并“回收”货币体系，那么薄荷就不必制造这么多新的。

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

当然，麦考莉有既得利益。他的公司收集了消费者存入的一小件硬币。

“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的个人理财专家金伯利·帕尔默（Kimberly Palmer）说：“您可以去自己的银行或信用合作社，而不必支付任何费用。” Nerdwallet和Bankrate都提供交换硬币现金的小费表。大多数银行将免费提供帐户持有人的硬币，但不是全部，您可能需要自己卷起硬币。

“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.

帕尔默说：“我认为很多人可能确实隐藏着藏在他们家中的硬币，值得他们去收集它们。”

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

麦考莉指出，如果存款人选择用硬币交易零售礼品卡，而不是现金，则Coinstar通常会免除其费用。

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

他并不孤单地预测一分钱，镍和他们更有利可图的亲戚的未来。

“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的高级行业分析师Ted Rossman说：“我们比欧洲和亚洲的部分地区要慢得多，以采用移动付款和非接触式信用卡。”

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.

大流行及时提醒了我们仍然依赖现金：消费者和企业主在全球关闭中坐在硬币上，播种了实际的硬币短缺。

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

罗斯曼说：“这冻结了整个系统。”

Retiring coins: Where does it end?

退休硬币：在哪里结束？

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

尽管特朗普只指示造币厂停止赚钱，但一些声音敦促美国停止使用它们。

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

两党议员团体于4月30日提出的《普通美分法》将把现金交易汇总到最近的五美分。

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

纽约民主党人参议员基尔斯顿·吉利布兰德（Kirsten Gillibrand）说：“一分钱过时，不再满足我们经济的需求。”

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

但是该法案可能会将国家推向湿滑的斜坡。

“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，你想摆脱一分钱，”《纽约时报》在最近的一个标题中沉思。 “你有镍的计划吗？”

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.

事实证明，一分钱会带来新的问题。据《纽约时报》报道，如果美国摆脱了便士，该国很快就会发现自己被镍淹没了。

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.

政府在每一分钱上都损失了近三分钱。在镍上，它损失了近9美分。更多的镍将意味着更陡峭的损失。