Bid Adieu to the Penny?

Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

There was a news items recently reporting the Treasury Department is halting production of new pennies.

The department made its final order of blank pennies earlier this month as it moves to end production of the once-cent coin.

Earlier this year, President Trump told the U-S Treasury to step making them.

However, according to the U-S Mint, Congress actually authorizes the manufacturing of our coins.

Stay tuned.

According to a 2024 annual report from the Mint, the cost of making a penny has increased 20% and the Treasury Department says halting new penny production could lead to an “immediate annual savings of $56 million dollars in reduced material costs.”

This is not the first time the penny has been on the chopping block.

In 1989, legislation was passed to stop making them and round all transactions up to the nearest nickel.

(That’s something the military has been doing since the 1980’s at overseas facilities.)

In 2023, multiple bills were proposed to make pennies from cheaper materials but none of them went anywhere.

Pennies have only been 2.5% copper since 1982.

They were 100% copper until WWII when we got the zinc-coated steel ones, called “steelies”.

They didn’t wear well and were replaced.

Oh, by the way, the coin’s official name is not “penny”; it’s the “one cent” coin.

But, we’ll use the term “penny” for this article.

“Penny” comes from the German word “pfennig” and the Swedish word “penning”.

The first penny was created in 1792, the flowing hair large cent, about the size of a half-dollar.

These can be worth from a few thousand dollars to over a million, depending on their condition.

In 1857, Congress told the Mint to make the cent smaller and out of copper and nickel, with a flying eagle on the front and a wreath on the back.

The first Lincoln penny was made in 1909.

It has “ears of wheat” on the tails side till 1958 and in 1959, we saw the Lincoln Memorial on the flip-side of the coin.

Since 2010, the back of the one-cent coin has been the Union shield.

There were 4 different versions cast for the Bicentennial.

It’s estimated there are more than 114 billion pennies currently in circulation but the demand for them has drastically decreased as we shift payment habits to cards or digital services.

However, 114 billion pennies is worth $1.14 billion dollars, right?

Ben Franklin is credited with saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned”.

So, if you saved a penny a day and lived to the age of 80, what sort of fortune would you amass?

Counting leap years, $292.20.

Not quite an IRA.

‘It’s been said if you see a penny you should pick it up and all day long, you’ll have good luck.

But it has to be found “heads up”

If you pick up a penny with the “tail side” showing, the legend says you’ll have bad luck.

You should turn that penny face-side up, so the next person can receive the good luck.

Some pennies can be valuable.

The 1982-D small date copper alloy Lincoln cent had some minted in error in the old copper allow.

They can bring up to $18,000.

That’s a pretty penny!

iI 1999, some Lincoln pennies were minted with a wide A-M space in “America.

They can fetch you up to $4,500 each.

Remember penny loafers?

I was “too cool” for that.

I put shiny dimes in mine.

But you knew things were tight when you didn’t have “2 pennies to rub together”.

Tim Allen of “Home Improvement” fame said his nephew tried to stick a penny into a plug. Whoever said a penny doesn’t go far didn’t see him shoot across that floor. I told him he was grounded.

Comedian Steven Wright stated if it’s a penny for your thoughts and you put in your two cents worth, then someone is making a penny.

You can be “penny-wise and pound foolish”.

How about a “penny pincher”?

But “a pretty penny” means it’s worth a who lot of pennies.

There’s also the old adage of “in for a penny, in for a pound”

It’s like trying to say, “Well, I’m only a little pregnant.

Nope!

You’re committed.

Makes “cents” to me!