After decades of debating whether or not to stop minting the penny, the United States has finally stopping minting them. Just last month, in fact.
Maryclaire Dale has a good overview article for the Associated Press that came out right around the time the last pennies were being made at the Philadelphia Mint. For example, what will businesses do now that the penny is still legal tender and circulated, but no longer produced? And now that we, as a country, have said goodbye to the penny, will the nickel be next? Yeah, don’t look at me like I’m an anarchist. A penny cost at much as 4 cents to make, but a nickel evidently costs almost 14 cents. It’s time for Tom to get nervous.
If you want to get a bit more wonky –and who doesn’t when it comes to currency?– an ASU history professor who goes by “Professor Barth” on YouTube gives you a bit more of a timeline and some other musings.
Of course, another question you may have is if this will make pennies more valuable. Well, with 300 billion coins in circulation, the average penny will probably not be, but Seth Meyers covers what pennies are valuable in this totally truthful, not-comedic-at-all segment: