Yesterday the Philadelphia Mint manufactured the last American penny or, formally, cent coin. We are told the demise of the penny is due to inflation and the cost of manufacturing them. According to the US Treasury, the 1¢ coin costs 3.63¢ to make. Given that the coin has lost half its value since 2000, clutters up coin jars, gets sucked into vacuum cleaners, and is just all around annoying, it makes “cents” to see it go.
Not only has the penny lost value over the years, it has also lost respect. Years ago, finding a shiny penny on the street was good luck (watch Grease and you’ll know). Now, I doubt anyone bothers to pick them up. Then there was the phrase “a penny for your thoughts”. Did that arise because the penny was valuable at the time the phrase was “coined”, or was it because the person who said it to you thought your opinions were next to worthless?
Then there were the penny trays next to cash registers. I haven’t seen one of those in years, but they were a staple at convenience stores, diners, and gas stations for a long time. Let’s say your total came to $9.97 and you handed the cashier a $10 bill. You would get three cents back in change. Rather than carry those pennies around in your pocket, you would put them in the tray for another customer to use. And now say the next customer’s bill came to $5.01 and the customer handed the cashier $6 ($5*1, $1*1), the casher would hand back the $1 and take a penny from the tray to close out the sale. This is so that the till balanced at the end of her shift without inconveniencing you and exhausting her supply of change. Otherwise, you would need to pay the casher $6.00 and get 99¢ back in change (3*25¢, 2*10¢, 4*1¢). Annoying. And if the cashier did not have quarters? Woe be to you!
Another problem to consider: family card games at the holidays. What to use for stakes? Back in the day, my family like to play poker after Christmas dinner. Because those were friendly games (i.e., not real gambling), we would break out a bowl of pennies and use those for stakes.
One time, because I was/am a lousy poker player, I ran out of pennies in the middle of the game. So, I went over to the bowl and grabbed a handful more. This was in the late 1970s, when I was about 12. My Aunt Pauline, a quite economically astute woman, chided me and said I just created inflation. Huh??? She then proceeded to explain how my adding more pennies to the table devalued the existing pennies in play. That was absolutely right, of course, but pretty heavy for a friendly family card game. Wouldn’t it be nice if the poohbahs in Washington had gotten this lesson as kids?
Finally, I will conclude with a word on the above penny in the photo. It is called a “wheat penny” and was minted in 1944. Wheat pennies were minted from 1909 until 1958. The one above is from 1944, right after the Mint resumed using copper for the coins. From what I understand, this was an alloy that is 95 per cent copper and 5 per cent zinc and tin. (Fun fact: In 1943, because of the need for copper in the war effort, pennies were made from steel and looked like dimes.)
The modern penny is made from a core that is 97.5 per cent zinc and a plating that is 2.5 per cent copper. The actual copper penny stopped being made in 1982 because of rising copper prices.
The question now is how will merchants give us change when the register price does not end in a 0 or 5? My guess is they will round the number to their favor. But no worries just yet. Pennies will continue to be valid currency until the last one disappears into someone’s couch.
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