A Penny For My Thoughts

I’ll never forget sitting on the floor cross- legged and emptying the contents of my piggy bank, counting out piles of 100 little brown pennies, being careful to pluck out the more valuable wheat pennies (vintage 1909-1958), then stacking them into thick paper sleeves. I’d place the rolls in an empty shoebox, and Mom would drive me to C& S bank, where I’d cash in my pennies for the more coveted paper money (some call it “folding money”).

Another memory? Buying Double Bubble gum by the piece at a neighborhood convenience store or having a few pennies in my pocket to use at the gumball machines that sat in front of the cash registers of the Piggly Wiggly in Warner Robins. I loved putting the coin in the slot and turning the crank. The sound of a gumball coming down the chute was music to my ears. Another? There was a fountain in the center of the Houston Mall, and I loved to make a wish and toss my pennies into the water, watching them settle at the bottom with thousands of others. I wonder what happened to all those pennies?

But those days are over. Very few of us use cash anymore, and pennies? Well, they are something of an inconvenience to handle in this day of credit cards and paying with our phones. Plus, many cashiers can’t even do the math in their heads to give the correct change if you pay with cash, especially pennies. Anyway, pennies just don’t make sense (cents) anymore.

In case you haven’t heard, on Wednesday afternoon, the very last penny rolled off the press at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. It’s the end of an era that started way back in 1787, when Benjamin Franklin designed what they called the Fugio cent. The penny we all know and love, showcasing Honest Abe’s profile, came along much later in 1909.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Why get rid of the penny? Well, turns out it costs nearly four cents to make the one-cent coin. That’s a loss of three cents for every penny made. Plus, the government has reported that there are 114 billion pennies out there somewhere, and so they will stay in circulation for some time. They also said that the penny is “severely underutilized.” That’s because they’re accumulating in junk drawers, in coin jars, underneath sofa cushions, and in those friendly little “take a penny, leave a penny” trays at the corner gas station.

But getting rid of the penny is rather complicated. The president announced the change back in Feb- continued from page

ruary during the Super Bowl with a social media post, but as seems to be common these days, there wasn’t exactly a game plan for how to discontinue the penny, leaving everyone scampering around trying to figure out the details.

Some stores will round up to the nearest nickel, which means we (the consumers) will be paying a penny or two more for our purchases. Other businesses have decided to round down because they don’t think it’s fair to charge customers extra. That’s costing them a couple of million dollars a year, but good for them not to shift the burden on us. And some merchants are in a really big pickle, because in some states and cities—Delaware, Connecticut, Michigan, Oregon, New York, Philadelphia, Miami—it’s actually illegal not to give exact change to a customer.

But everyone will eventually figure out the details.

And so the penny has joined the graveyard of discontinued coins, though it will remain legal tender for a while. So don’t worry—you will still be able to use all those pennies you’ve been hoarding, and you’ll still find them occasionally as you walk across a parking lot.

But I’m mourning a little for them. After all, I’ve had a relationship with the penny for 60 years—my entire life.

The penny had a good run. Like the younger generation says, “It’s been real.” Still, I’m going to miss my old copper-colored companion.