US Mint Not Making Pennies Within Months

[Lacey]

Hi everyone. I hope this is the right place to post this. I am a newbie here and if it's in the wrong forum I apologize.

This afternoon, as I was looking up info on the new pennies with the Union shield design, I read that the US Mint will stop making pennies in April of this year, and stores/merchants will no longer accept pennies as a form of payment after April. My hubby was all for it--he hates pennies! :)

Should we save pennies now? I don't know if it would be worth it.

[Klayton]

And so it begins...

[firefox]

Hi everyone. I hope this is the right place to post this. I am a newbie here and if it's in the wrong forum I apologize.

This afternoon, as I was looking up info on the new pennies with the Union shield design, I read that the US Mint will stop making pennies in April of this year, and stores/merchants will no longer accept pennies as a form of payment after April. My hubby was all for it--he hates pennies! :)

Should we save pennies now? I don't know if it would be worth it.

link please

[Lacey]

Hey guys. I should have done more research before posting this. While trying to find the link to the story, I tried to find confirmation at the US Mint website and I didn't find any.

So, I apologize for sounding the alarm. I will go crawl under a rock now.

[Monel]

I wish they would stop minting penneys. BTW they are not solid copper anymore so don't think they will be of much value like pre 1964 dimes. I don't think they are stopping because the government is making money off them. When you throw them in a jar because you don't want to bother with them they are ahead. A penney cost only a fraction of a cent to make so they love to sell them to you.

[Cimarron]

Hey guys. I should have done more research before posting this. While trying to find the link to the story, I tried to find confirmation at the US Mint website and I didn't find any.

So, I apologize for sounding the alarm. I will go crawl under a rock now.

Lacey don't be too hard on your self. Plenty of people post things that others have no idea where it comes from. At least you came back to clarify, many don't do that.
Good forum posting is the story with a link attached to your post as to where you got your information. Sometimes it's a good idea to check the source of the article before you post it and you might dismiss it as junk.
Remember, not all sources are created equal. Manny have a slant or biased to a particular "thinking" so you just have to be careful.

I would go out on a limb here and say that most on this forum see the U.S. economy in trouble and could collapse. But if I bring in a story from some unknown blogger how the "collapse is imminent" it doesn't add up to a lot.

[Lacey]

Thanks Cimarron and Monel. I wasn't sure if I could show my face/username here again. LOL!

[1Admin]

VERY well said Cimmaron!

[crossbow]

Pennies 81 and back were 95% copper and 5% zinc. pennies 83 and after are 95% zinc and 5% copper. the 82 pennies was the change over year, half are copper and half are zinc. copper now being about $4.25 a pound makes copper pennies worth about 3 cents each.

[Tofu]

Be sure to save all your nickles. Each one is worth about 6 cents a piece.

www.coinflation.com

[eeyore]

Hey guys. I should have done more research before posting this. While trying to find the link to the story, I tried to find confirmation at the US Mint website and I didn't find any.

So, I apologize for sounding the alarm. I will go crawl under a rock now.

Lacey you gave too easy,

The Death of the Penny – US Mint to Cease Penny Production in 2011

The US Mint announced this morning that they will phase out the production of new pennies beginning in late 2010, and mint the last batch of pennies on April 1, 2011. The final batch of pennies will be released in a set of proofs which will be auctioned off to coin collectors with the proceeds going toward our national debt. The last run will be limited to 50,000 proof sets, and opening bidding is expected to start at $179.99, which is affordable considering you will own a piece of US numismatic history.

High cost of making new pennies to blame. The announcement follows years of speculation regarding when the US would stop minting pennies, as it actually costs more than 1 cent to produce a penny. On average, pennies cost 1.4 cents to make, making penny production a losing proposition, especially when the US Mint produces billions of pennies annually. Add the fact that “a penny just doesn’t buy what it used to,” and it’s clear the US Government is making the right decision by eliminating the penny.

What will happen to all the pennies? Pennies will remain legal tender, but you will be hard pressed to find stores willing to accept them after April, 2011, because the US Mint will impose additional handling fees for purchasing rolls of pennies and they will institute a penny buy back incentive.

Starting in late 2010, the US Government will begin “Pennies for Freedom,” a penny reclamation campaign designed to collect the estimated 23 trillion unused pennies sitting in people’s homes and coin jars. The pennies will then be melted and the copper will be used for green energy projects throughout the US. This is part of the Obama Adminstration’s plans for reducing US dependence on foreign energy.

How will stores handle transactions without pennies? We are moving toward a cashless society and most transactions are handled electronically with credit cards and ATM cards, or with a check. So eliminating the penny won’t actually affect most people. For people who insist on paying cash, the US Mint recommends that stores round up or down to the nearest nickel. Note: As a side effect, expect state and local sales taxes to increase to round up to the nearest nickel as well to make accounting easier for stores and cashiers.

Eliminating the penny benefits everyone! No more pennies means we all win! It is estimated the average person loses $38.92 in pennies throughout their lifetime. Change will be easier to count and manage, and purses will be lighter. No more looking under car seats, under couch cushions, sifting through the coin jar, etc. I’m looking forward to it already!

http://cashmoneylife.com/2009/04/01/us-mint-cease-penny-production-in-2011/

[Klayton]

When stationed in Europe the American stores on post wouldn't accept pennies either, and this was back in the late 80s. What they did was round. If your total due was 5.00 - 5.01 - 5.02 you paid 5.00; if it was 5.03 - 5.04 - 5.05 - 5.06 - 5.07 you paid 5.05; if it was 5.08 - 5.09 - 5.10 - 5.11 - 5.12 you paid 5.10

Hope that helps. :)

Downside to this, cashiers were allowed to be upto $5.00 short at the end of every shift because of this, and it didn't take long for cashiers to start "counting" their ups and downs, and shorting the drawer EVERY shift for exactly $5.00. Might not seem like much, but it adds up very fast.

OH, and at least in Europe, if we were writing a check, they wouldn't let us write it for the exact amount, say $5.13, we had to write it for $5.15. Which REALLY pissed me off.

[Klayton]

Oh, a side note. If they actually feel that the penny is worthless and thus want to stop it in 2011, it shows that they have NO intention of correcting the decline of the dollar's value. Because if they did, you would start seeing pennies actually worth a penny. I still remember buying single pieces of bazooka for 2cents at the local pharmacy when I was a kid.

[Lacey]

Lacey you gave too easy,

At the bottom of the article it says it is an April Fool's joke.

It says:
$$$ And if you haven’t figured it out by now – Happy April Fools Day! :)

[Klayton]

LOL too funny guys...