Pennies from heaven.
Find a penny, pick it up; all the day, you’ll have good luck.
A penny for your thoughts.
A penny saved is a penny earned.
Soon, the ubiquitous coin will be no more.
President Donald Trump issued an order in February to halt production of the penny, citing waste and expense. It costs the Treasury Department 3.7 cents to make each penny, and Treasury officials announced last week that they made their final order of blank pennies this month.
The move is expected to save the government some $56 million a year.
Andrew Edelman, owner of Edelman’s Coins in Jenkintown, believes it makes fiscal sense to eliminate the penny, but he’s sad to see the one-cent coin go. Some people are motivated to collect Lincoln cents or one-cent coins going all the way back to 1793, he said.
“But on the other hand, I think that phasing coins out and the overall lack of coins in circulation might be a bad thing because kids aren’t going to be seeing them. They’re not going to be handling them. How are we going to have that renewed interest or continued interest in the hobby?”
“Unfortunately, very few kids these days are collecting coins,” said Edelman.
Dumping the penny has been done already, most notably by the U.S. military. In 1980, the U.S. Army stopped using pennies on its European bases, deciding they weren’t worth the cost of shipping overseas. The ban has spread to most American military bases abroad.
New Zealand, Australia, and Canada have gotten rid of their one-cent coins, too.
DVJournal asked whether losing the penny would hurt small businesses.
Casey Buchanan, co-owner of Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt in Berwyn, does not think it will matter. About two-thirds of his customers pay by credit card or digitally, he said. He noted it was a “generational” difference with people under 30 rarely using cash while people 60 and over still carry it. And adults in between are mixed, he said.
“Cash transactions are becoming less and less common,” said Buchanan. “So it won’t be impactful. We typically do rounding up or rounding down anyway to accommodate people who don’t want pennies.” It saves his employees time when counting out change.
“So, personally, I don’t think it will be a big problem for us,” said Buchanan. But he is concerned about the government’s cost to make pennies in relation to making nickels (13.9 cents), which might be needed more.
“So we’re kicking the can down the road here with what the actual cost of making the currency is versus the actual value,” said Buchanan.
Tom Sangillo, owner of Sangillo’s Farm Fresh Produce and Deli in Drexel Hill, is concerned about collecting the six percent sales tax without being able to use pennies.
“I don’t know how the sales tax would work,” said Sangillo. “We can round up everything. But I don’t know how the tax would work. Pennies are a pain in the neck. But with the six percent tax, you need pennies, and then what would you do?”
Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity said the change will not affect the state government’s finances.
“While physical pennies will no longer be in circulation, digital transactions will continue to be able to process payments in one-cent increments,” said Garrity. “As the Commonwealth does not generally operate utilizing physical cash, we expect this change to have little to no impact on current Pennsylvania Treasury operations. Over the years, the Pennsylvania Treasury has been committed to the efficiency and security of electronic payments and receipts, and those transactions will continue without interruption.”
