Americans will soon say farewell forever to bargains priced at $5.99. Or $19.99. Or $99.99. No longer will we be lured into falling for the longest-running hustle in the retail business: the illusion that, say, $9.99 is somehow a bargain compared to $10. Those days are over, as of last week, when the U.S. Mint stopped making pennies after 232 years of cranking out the little suckers. (The more immediate impact of this decision means people will have to start giving you at least a nickel for your thoughts, which seems inflationary, but we’ll see.)
But it’s not just prices that end in the number nine that will disappear. With the penny out of circulation, nothing purchased with cash can be priced with a final digit of one, two, three, four, six, seven, or eight, either. All prices will have to end in zero or five. How efficient. How boring.
But never fear, the coin itself will still be with us for quite a while. According to a report from the Mint, the vast majority of pennies produced in recent decades were given out in change by retailers but were never spent, meaning they never went back into circulation; they just piled up in change jars, piggy banks, car consoles, purses, cigar tins, desk drawers, etc. It’s been years since you could actually buy anything for a penny, and that’s why they are everywhere, the monetary equivalent of pocket lint.
“How many pennies are out there?” you may ask. The answer is: tons. Literally. The Mint estimates there are more than 250 billion pennies in existence, which comes out to around 780,000 tons, or 725 pennies for every human being living in the United States. So the next time you hear someone say, “He hasn’t a penny to his name,” they’re probably mistaken.
People who research such things claim that the portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the U.S. penny is the most reproduced piece of art in recorded history. So we’ve got that going for us. But the truth is, while the minting of pennies made cents (heh), it stopped making sense many years ago. That’s because the cost to produce each little copper-clad disc was 3.7 cents, meaning the return on that investment wasn’t worth a plugged nickel — or something to that effect. And for the record, according to the Mint’s latest annual report, it costs 13.8 cents to make a nickel, presumably non-plugged, so we’re just throwing good money after bad. The money-making business is costing us money.
As I write this, I’m struck by the number of common sayings that come to mind that reference money, and it occurs to me that, as the penny goes the way of the dodo, many such phrases could also, er, lose currency, to, uh, coin a phrase.
In 10 years, will anyone know what a “penny-pincher” is? Will people still be able to offer their “two cents’ worth” in a discussion, or will they have to offer a dime? Could someone still be “penny-wise”?
In reality, what we’re seeing is the encroaching demise of all physical currency — and it’s well underway. The great majority of purchases are already being made digitally. With a few keystrokes on your phone or laptop, you can make a utility payment or order a sweater. By tapping a plastic card on a digital portal, you can magically pay for gas or dinner — or just about anything.
The change is inevitable. Who among us hasn’t noticed the small sigh given by a salesclerk when you offer them cash for a purchase? Handling money and making change is so … 1999. And don’t tell me you don’t roll your eyes when you get behind someone in line who’s writing a check. Even SNAP benefits are purchased with a card.
The idea of carrying around a wad of unsanitary bills and a pocket full of grungy change has become less and less appealing, especially for younger people. A Harris Poll taken earlier this month found that 53 percent of Gen Z (ages 13-28) think cash users are “out of touch,” or worse, “cringe.” So change is coming, for better or for worse — and pocket change is leaving. If you listen, you can almost hear a penny drop. Or 250 billion of them.