The penny, the humble, round and dirty piece of copper and zinc, has the last word. It’s been less than a month the last copy has been minted on November 12 and there is a growing shortage of coins in the United States. In fact, stores pay people to sell them and companies fear losing millions of dollars.
What is the old saying? Don’t you miss anything until it’s over? Maybe the penny was more important than we thought. But this old man has been fighting a losing battle for respect for years. With this you can no longer buy anything, not even chewing gum. Most of us just throw them in a bin or can. A dull penny can also sit on the pavement all day and not be picked up.
The US Mint collected the last cent on November 12, ending a 230-year streak. According to the mint, the manufacturing costs for the coin were 3.69 cents for every penny – a negligible return on investment for taxpayers.
However, when coin production ceased, some brick and mortar stores across the country were unable to issue the exact change because they did not have enough coins (if any).
A leading association in the retail trade opinion research revealed that thousands of businesses are out of business and called on the federal government to take action.
Supermarket chains Price Chopper and Market 32 recently arranged one Double exchange daywhere people put in their money and got double its value in the form of a coupon. So does the food chain Giant Eagle offered gift cards That’s worth double what customers reported during a one-day event on November 1st.
Millions are at stake
CBS News asked several large companies how they would handle cash transactions if a penny was missing from the register. McDonald’s said the company’s restaurants would round up or down to the nearest cent, meaning an order worth $12.43 would be rounded up to $12.45, but an order worth $12.42 would be rounded up to $12.40.
Wendy’s, Kwik Trip and GoTo Foods, parent companies of Aunt Anne’s, Cinnabon, Jamba and Carvel, have said they will round down to the nearest cent for the customer’s benefit. Kroger encourages customers to use exact change, but still accepts coins as payment.
Rounding is beneficial to consumers, but the National Association of Convenience Stores estimates that there are thousands of convenience stores in the United States. In total, you can lose more than a million dollars per day rounding. NACS wants US lawmakers to do this create a team This would allow companies to round up transactions to the nearest nickel.
Until the federal government issues guidelines or regulations on how to deal with the missing penny, the situation will remain chaotic for some time.
Others threw away their money
Mark Stiving, The CEO of pricing strategy firm Impact Pricing said eliminating the penny would have “virtually no impact” on consumers and businesses in the long term. And he has the New Zealand receipts to prove it.
Canada and Australia also reduced their penny equivalents years ago.
Be thrifty and take action
You won’t make a fortune harvesting every penny from your house unless you have an exceptionally rare example lying around. But if you search your bedroom, garage, kitchen and even your car, you might be able to scrape together some cash. There are no problems. Would you let a five dollar bill collect dust in a drawer? Of course not.
Find a Coinstar kiosk. You’ve probably walked past one of the company’s 17,000 machines without realizing it, but it’s a convenient way to turn pennies and other currencies into cash. HE The process is simple: Find a kiosk (usually a supermarket) and enter your coins to receive a coupon that you can redeem at the checkout or customer service desk. There is a service charge of almost 13%. So if you exchange €100 in coins, you get €87.
Prepare coins and find a bank.: Many banks and credit unions accept your currency. They may have a coin counter or ask you to organize the coins into chests, which takes time but also gives you an idea of how many coins you actually have hidden. Depending on whether you are an account holder, fees may or may not apply. (Note: Some banks do not accept prepackaged coins; these must be machine counted or verified to ensure authenticity. Yes, coins of equal weight are hidden in coin rolls.)
just spend it: Gone are the days when you could drive to the store and buy something for a penny, but there are still those hanging around. general dollar offers a weekly list of out-of-season or discontinued items for just a penny off. Websites like Mrs. Krazy Coupon AND The free boy Provide weekly updates on what you can get for a dime at Dollar General, as long as those items are not taken off the shelves. Krazy Koupon Lady even has one Home Depot Tricks where you can get stuff for pennies.
Find a collectible: It’s doubtful, but you never know. The most valuable penny is one 1943-D Lincoln Wheat Cent Penny (Bronze/Copper)which could raise nearly $2.5 million. Or maybe you have one 1880 Indian Chief Centwhich can cost you around $150. List of valuable coins in the United States Coin Book it is here.
Fun and skills for kids.: These coins can help you upgrade your crafting toolbox. Help kids learn to budget, create art or conduct a science experiment – the choice is theirs! Invoice Green light ideas.
Will nickel be next?
The cent is just the latest US coin to be abandoned. The half cent, the half cent, the large cent, the double eagle and many others They have all come and gone.
Nickel could be next. almost cost 14 cents missingnearly three times the face value of nickel. The main problem is that nickel is made up of 75% copper and 25% nickel, metals whose price has doubled in the last decade.
But nickels will be harder to remove than dimes. Rounding up or down to the nearest cent could cost American taxpayers $56 million a year. according to a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. That’s far more than the estimated $6 million annual loss caused by Penny’s retirement.
One cent for your stuff
The money may be disappearing, but its history is full of strange facts.
President Lincoln was not always aware of this.. Honest Abe did not become the main attraction until 1909, in honor of his 100th birthday. The Statue of Liberty first appeared on a coin in 1793.
Newer coins contain little copper.: Coins minted after 1982 are made of copper-clad zinc, which consists of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.
you can clean them: vinegar, vegetable oil and water can help with washing dishes Decades of soot and dirt for those pennies. but”no, no, no, no“Also keep this in mind when looking for collectibles in your inventory: it can seriously affect their value,” says the coin shop owner.
A 50-50 tie? Try 80-20: Persi Diaconis, a Stanford math professor and former magician, says that’s a pretty penny will land tail up 80% of the time because the side with Lincoln’s head weighs much more than the back.
What D, S and P mean: The writing on the obverse of the coin indicates where it was minted: D for Denver, S for San Francisco, and P for Philadelphia. But you’ll only see the P on coins minted in 2017, in honor of the US Mint’s 225th anniversary. In all other years, coins struck in Philadelphia did not bear the P.
Five Cent Special: The last five coins minted show one special omega symbol, chosen because Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. It’s unlikely you’ll ever see one in real life. According to the Ministry of Finance, these five cents will not be put into circulation. Instead, the government plans to auction them off. Auction details not yet available.