Everyone knows of the penny: the one-cent copper and zinc coin that’s used in everyday transactions. However, as of a few weeks ago an astounding announcement was made: the penny was officially put out to pasture. That’s right, the U.S. Mint discontinued production of the penny, its reign since 1793 finally ending after over two hundred years.
Overall, the death of the penny was brought on by multiple contributions. For starters, you would think it wouldn’t cost that much to actually mint a single penny, right? Wrong. Over the years the price to produce these coins has catapulted upwards, with a current total of three dollars and sixty-nine cents. Not only is it now more expensive to manufacture, but with contemporary methods of digital payment and any kind of credit or debit card usage, cash transactions are becoming more and more limited. With no more bills that makes change non-existent, and since pennies possess the least amount of wealth, it’s only practical that they kick the bucket, granted it also costs more to make one than they’re worth.
Overall, what does this mean for the future? One thought I had was now items might not be $5.99 for example, because everybody who pays the full dollar amount to round up will expect a penny in return. Customers will have to have the exact amount of change instead of rounding up, or prices will have to change genuinely. Furthermore, at some point in years to come pennies will most likely actually be worth something, since they’re no longer being produced, the coins in circulation now are going to be the only ones left and realistically they might be looked at as rare coin collector’s items at some point, but most likely not for decades and decades later. It’s definitely a strange concept to grasp even now; one of the four main pieces of currency is just gone, totally vanished. However, I ask the audience, what do you think? Do you think it was a smart, ethical decision to discontinue the penny? And what do you think the future will be like with no pennies present? How will stores and prices truly be affected?
Photo Credit: Dan Dennis on Unsplash
