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 Replies: 104 / Views: 7,791 |
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Moderator
 United States
22296 Posts |
Smart Alec here- If they are going to stop making "Pennies" will they continue makinmg "one cent coins"? Just semantics- but the United States of America has never minted a "Penny" coin  |
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Forum Dad
United States
23754 Posts |
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Is the nickel next? Hopefully, the dollar bill is next. That's likely an even bigger waste of money than the penny.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
584 Posts |
If the cent is ended. How many years before we no longer see them in circulation? Any guesses?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17526 Posts |
Don't underestimate the rise of bartering in the not-to-distant future...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
977 Posts |
One of the articles I read this week also pointed out that the nickle costs much more than it's face value to make/distribute. Getting rid of the nickle is harder to do as it makes change more difficult with the quarter. So I fall back to my earlier suggestion: Get rid of both the nickle AND quarter next, let the dime be the workhorse coin. Perhaps smaller and reconstituted half and dollar coins.
I think however that coinage itself will be pretty much obsolete by the time they do anything else, it has only been 50 years that they have been talking about different metals for the penny or getting rid of it altogether.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1693 Posts |
Plated steel nickels are the quickest and best option for now.
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
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If the cent is ended. How many years before we no longer see them in circulation? Any guesses? In Canada it was basically immediate as I understand it, but that was done in coordination with the banks, who all agreed to stop distribution on the same date (which is easier in Canada since the banking sector is much more consolidated). But even with what seems like a more haphazard process here, I wouldn't be surprised if they go away very quickly. Going from 6-8 billion coins a year to zero will be a very hard shock, and retailers will take this as permission to just stop ordering them at all, regardless of what the banks have in stock.
Edited by ibagli
05/24/2025 01:12 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2158 Posts |
Ideally they'd switch the nickel to aluminum and then after retrieving all the cents and old nickels from circulation they'd shrink the nickel to a little bigger than the current cent and retrieve the older aluminum nickels. It could all be done in four years and it would almost pay for itself while the savings begin immediately.
However long it takes to cut the value of the dollar in half again then just remove the nickels and dimes so the quarter is the smallest coin.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
Edited by cladking
05/24/2025 09:07 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4703 Posts |
Regarding the nickel, I would like to point out the complicating factor: vending machines. Current machines accept nickels as payment and also dispense them as change. Many vending machines also have magnetic countermeasures to stop steel slug counterfeits. Any replacement would require a coin with similar electrical and mechanical characteristics. I think that would specifically rule out aluminum (which tbh seems like a lousy metal for coins anyway).
The additional challenge of vending machine compatibility simply didn't exist for copper and zinc cents.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5047 Posts |
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Getting rid of the nickle is harder to do as it makes change more difficult with the quarter. So I fall back to my earlier suggestion: Get rid of both the nickle AND quarter next, let the dime be the workhorse coin. Perhaps smaller and reconstituted half and dollar coins. The problem is that AFAICT the mint and the government are committed to putting tons of silly commemorative series on the quarters. So the only realistic options other than keeping the nickel are either get rid of the dime too and round everything to nearest quarter, or (re)introduce the 12 1/2 cent coin (we can call it the "bit" I guess). ...That said, many other countries had (I think in some cases might still have?) denomination systems that made change complicated in the lowest denominations. I don't know how they got around it. EDIT: Quote:
Regarding the nickel, I would like to point out the complicating factor: vending machines. Current machines accept nickels as payment and also dispense them as change. Many vending machines also have magnetic countermeasures to stop steel slug counterfeits. Any replacement would require a coin with similar electrical and mechanical characteristics. I think that would specifically rule out aluminum (which tbh seems like a lousy metal for coins anyway). ...yeah, any kind of alloy change for the nickel is going to have to deal with that. Getting rid of both the nickel and the dime is still an option, though.
Edited by january1may
05/24/2025 10:26 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19676 Posts |
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The additional challenge of vending machine compatibility simply didn't exist for copper and zinc cents. The old vending machine problems argument is long dead. They now have card scanners and all prices are in 25 cent increments. They will only accept & dispense dollar coins and quarters in the ones I've seen in the past few years.
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Valued Member
United States
402 Posts |
 Yeah now my 12 rolls of uncirculated ms65 1909-s VDB pennies will go up in value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3145 Posts |
I would love to gather a 55-gallon drum full of cents and continue to use them in commerce just to gum up the works! Throw a handful in my pocket each morning and use exact change for purchases.  "Nummi rari mira sunt, si sumptus ferre potes." - Christophorus filius Scotiae
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Valued Member
New Zealand
75 Posts |
@bump111: I turned in about 30,000 cents through a cash machine about a year ago.
Cash machine: please wait while I count. You sure have a lot of coins.
Me: these are just the ones I'm willing to part with.
Edited by Buffalo soldat
05/25/2025 04:08 am
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Valued Member
United States
80 Posts |
I'm assuming 2026 will be the last year for the penny
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Replies: 104 / Views: 7,791 |
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Posted 05/23/2025 07:06 am
