No more new pennies

[Plutonic Panda]

The treasury department just announced today that they will stop making new pennies so no more new pennies will go into circulation after 2026. Just curious how everyone feels about this. I frankly don't care too much. If businesses are being told to round up to the nearest five cents, I don't see that as much of an issue if pennies cost four cents to make.

[hotdogPi]

Full support. I really don't see why we use pennies anymore. I was in Paris where everything was rounded to the nearest 10 euro cents (they have a 0.20 coin instead of a 0.25), and I really liked it.

Of note: places that round to the nearest 5¢ for cash purchases, such as Canada, Australia, and Switzerland, round whichever way is closer, not always up. In New Zealand, which rounds to the nearest 10¢, 5 rounds down, not up.

[hbelkins]

I was always taught that with a .5 figure that needs rounding, you round to the even number. Both 3.5 and 4.5 would round to 4, for example.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I'm Ok with it. Pennies have long outlived their usefulness as currency, even before the emergence of e-commerce. Besides, there are so many in circulation they'll never completely go away.

[Plutonic Panda]

It also doesn't make sense to keep them if it cost 4 cents to make them but they're only 1 cent, it seems like they should've been done away with awhile ago.

[SectorZ]

Let's get rid of nickels and quarters, too, and round to ten cents. We can have dimes, half-dollars, and dollar coins. That's my dream.

[SectorZ]

I was always taught that with a .5 figure that needs rounding, you round to the even number. Both 3.5 and 4.5 would round to 4, for example.

I've never heard that, but I like the logic in that it evens things out over the long-term.

[Big John]

I was always taught that with a .5 figure that needs rounding, you round to the even number. Both 3.5 and 4.5 would round to 4, for example.

I've never heard that, but I like the logic in that it evens things out over the long-term.

I only heard that in college, otherwise told to always round up in that case.

Also, will stores still end all prices with .99?

[hotdogPi]

Also, will stores still end all prices with .99?

My experience with Paris (which was the nearest was 0.10) is no. There were a few that ended in 5, and exactly one place had a .99; it was an internal gift shop next to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. Most prices were to the nearest 0.1, though, and many only listed one decimal place.

I can't remember what they did in Québec City when I was there in 2019.

I believe that if places do switch, they'll switch to .95, not the whole dollar. I've seen some restaurants already do that, not that it really matters since you're not paying the exact amount listed because of tax and tip.

[wanderer2575]

Also, will stores still end all prices with .99?

If so, will stores round each individual item or round the total?

[elsmere241]

Also, will stores still end all prices with .99?

Probably.  After all, gas prices still end in nine-tenths of a cent.

When I was in Italy, most grocery prices were rounded to the nearest 10 lire, and the total was paid in the nearest 50 or 100 lire.  (There was one store that would use 10- and 20-lira coins for change to cut back on the total amount given out.)

[Rothman]

*pinches pennies*

[kphoger]

I'm in full support.  It's about time.

Also, will stores still end all prices with .99?

They'll stop as soon as gas stations stop ending all their prices with .099, I imagine.

[WillWeaverRVA]

I was always taught that with a .5 figure that needs rounding, you round to the even number. Both 3.5 and 4.5 would round to 4, for example.

Interesting. I was always taught to round up when I was in grade school, but some instructors in college used the "even number rule".

[oscar]

When Canada phased out its penny in 2012, banks were at some point ordered to stop providing pennies to retailers and other customers (so they couldn't replenish the pennies in their drawers), and to instead sell to the government any pennies they had on hand or received from customers. Those measures did a pretty good job of quickly hoovering up the pennies still in circulation in Canada. But especially in rural areas of Canada, well into the 2010s I still saw some "leave a penny, take a penny" trays in stores, perhaps as a favor to old-fashioned customers slow to give up on the penny.

Canada's official guidance to retailers was to round the total sales price (after taxes) up or down to the nearest nickel for cash transactions, but no rounding for credit transactions.

I don't know if the U.S. Treasury will be content to let the penny supply in circulation slowly dry up, or will like Canada try to speed up the process of making pennies go away.

[NWI_Irish96]

Let's get rid of nickels and quarters, too, and round to ten cents. We can have dimes, half-dollars, and dollar coins. That's my dream.

I'd get rid off all coins except nickels, quarters and dollars. You can make every combination from $0.05 up through $1.95 with only 8 coins.

Getting rid of $1 bills should be next.

[1995hoo]

I'm in full support.  It's about time.

Also, will stores still end all prices with .99?

They'll stop as soon as gas stations stop ending all their prices with .099, I imagine.

The U.S. dollar is still legally divided into cents and mills even though no coin denominated in mills has circulated since the half cent was withdrawn (I believe they stopped minting those in 1857 or so). There's no real reason why those amounts can't still be used for electronic transactions.

[GaryV]

Also, will stores still end all prices with .99?

Why not? The sales tax will make it 1.05 or 1.06 or 1.072 or whatever the local rates are.

[kphoger]

Also, will stores still end all prices with .99?

Why not? The sales tax will make it 1.05 or 1.06 or 1.072 or whatever the local rates are.

Only in places where that item is taxed.

[kphoger]

I'd get rid off all coins except nickels, quarters and dollars. You can make every combination from $0.05 up through $1.95 with only 8 coins.

If only nickels weren't an even bigger money-sap to produce than pennies are.

Getting rid of $1 bills should be next.

Count me in.  I've wanted that for years.

[hotdogPi]

If only nickels weren't an even bigger money-sap to produce than pennies are.

Other countries have changed to steel or aluminum. We could do the same.

[Big John]

If only nickels weren't an even bigger money-sap to produce than pennies are.

Other countries have changed to steel or aluminum. We could do the same.

Like the 1943 steel penny?

[Scott5114]

Let's get rid of nickels and quarters, too, and round to ten cents. We can have dimes, half-dollars, and dollar coins. That's my dream.

I'd get rid off all coins except nickels, quarters and dollars. You can make every combination from $0.05 up through $1.95 with only 8 coins.

As someone who worked with large amounts of cash on a daily basis, you're a monster. You must be stopped.

Getting rid of $1 bills should be next.

This would be illegal—the company that makes the bill paper got their Senator to pass a law that prohibits the government from changing the $1 bill in any way. (This is why its design doesn't match the other denominations.)

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Over here I've refused to carry any coins less than €0.05 for a while now. When I get anything lower as change, I set them apart until I can exchange them for a larger coin.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I believe it was one of our senators from Massachusetts who saw to it that no changes could come to the dollar bill.  The paper is manufactured by the Crane Paper Company in Dalton.