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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.