Americans, say bye-bye to pennies

[Gaybutton]

Trump instructs Treasury to halt penny production

by Betsy Klein, CNN

February 9, 2025

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he has instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the production of pennies, citing the high cost of producing one cent.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump said in a post to social media as he returned to Washington from the Super Bowl.

The penny has been under fire for years, with the movement to eliminate the penny picking up steam last month after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency posted on X calling attention to the high cost of producing the single-cent coin.

Last year a New York Times Magazine story argued for abolishing the coin. “The necessity of abolishing the penny has been obvious to those in power for so long that the inability to accomplish it has transformed the coin into a symbol of deeper rot,” the piece noted.

CNN has reported the US Mint in 2023 reported it circulated around 4.1 billion pennies. In fiscal year 2024, the US Mint said in its annual report that the US penny costs about 3.7 cents to produce and distribute, up more than 20% from the previous year. The rising cost of metals, including zinc and copper, is part of the reason it’s getting more expensive to make the coin.

In 2013, a commentary piece on the Brooking Institution website took things a step further, arguing for the US not only to stop making the penny but also to halt production of the nickel.

“Perhaps, the problem is not that advocates have been too bold, but rather that they have been too timid — let’s drop not just pennies, but nickels too and stop using the rightmost decimal place at all,” the piece argued.

https://us.cnn.com/2025/02/09/business/ ... index.html

"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."
- Yogi Berra

[Jun]

I wish Thailand would say goodbye to satang. I keep acquiring 25 and 50 satang coins in supermarkets, which don't seem to be welcome elsewhere else.

As for the west, well, I don't know how it is in the US, but the common tactic of ending prices in a 0.99 must increase the demand for small coins in many countries?
Stopping producing the smallest coin might in time discourage that.

And why do you call the 1 cent a penny ?

[Gaybutton]

I wish Thailand would say goodbye to satang.

So do I. I have a can full of them. The only place that lets me cash them in is at 7-Elevens. Even banks won't take them.

And why do you call the 1 cent a penny ?

"The U.S. Mint's official name for the coin is "cent"[1] and the U.S. Treasury's official name is "one cent piece".[2] The colloquial term penny derives from the British coin of the same name, which occupies a similar place in the British system. Pennies is the plural form (not to be confused with pence, which refers to the unit of currency)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(Un ... ates_coin)

[Jun]

Most of these coins have been debased over the years as well.

Your 1 cent coins are plated zinc.
The UK penny is now copper plated steel. The 1 baht coin is nickel plated steel.

[Gaybutton]

When I was a child there were many things that could be bought for a penny. Anybody in my generation remember gumball machines? Now I know of nothing that can be bought for a penny. Las Vegas had penny slot machines. I don't know whether those machines still exist.

Nickels used to buy things too. I remember buying packs of chewing gum for a nickel, but now all nickels do is round out change.

I think with modern movement toward "cashless society", coins and even paper money are on the verge of becoming obsolete and it won't be long until virtually everything involving money will be electronic and online.

In Thailand it is getting close to that already. Almost everything I buy, even mom-and-pop street food stalls, are accepting "scanner pay". I've even been to a couple shops that no longer accept cash at all and accept only "scanner pay". Just about the only thing I use cash for anymore in Thailand is giving a tip to a delivery boy.

I wonder how long it will be before people have never even heard of cash and the only places cash will be mentioned will be in books about ancient history (and that's if there will still be such a thing as books).

[christianpfc]

It's a sign of inflation. 50 years ago US-cent or Pfenning (100 Pfennig = 1 Deutsche Mark) were made of copper because their monetary value was higher than the value of the copper. That changed to copper plated steel, and now making one costs more than they are worth.

EUR-cent are still in use in Germany, but during a recent trip to the Netherlands I learned that they are not in circulation there any more! All bills are rounded up to multiples of 5 EUR-cent.

In my experience, 25 and 50 Satang are only accepted in places that have items priced in fractions of 1 Baht, which for me is 7-Eleven and Makro. I make sure to spend those 25 and 50 Satang soon after I get them. E.g. 107 Baht in 7-Eleven 100 Baht + 5 Baht + 1 Baht + 4 x 25 Satang.

[Gaybutton]

I make sure to spend those 25 and 50 Satang soon after I get them.

I have an old coffee can into which I deposit satang coins whenever I get them. I've been doing that for years. I've never counted how many I've got in the can, but it's heavy to lift, so there must be hundreds.

I rarely get satang anymore because now I pay for most purchases with "scanner pay", so change isn't involved at all.

Now it's what to do with all those satang. 7-Eleven accepts them and you can cash them in there when they're not busy. Even though it's legitimate Thai money, banks won't take them.

I'll probably put them all in a plastic bag and give them to a boy or a trash beggar and let him bother with them. There must be several hundred baht in there by now, so someone poor just might be grateful to get them.