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The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

(www.cnn.com)
334 points andrewl | 6 comments | 12 Nov 25 16:10 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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didgetmaster ◴[12 Nov 25 16:40 UTC] No.45902279[source]▶
Many are reporting this as if failing to mint new pennies each year is going to produce some kind of shortage. There are billions of pennies sitting in drawers or jars in homes across the nation (I certainly have one with about a thousand pennies in it).

I doubt anyone who needs a penny will be unable to find one within the next 100 years.

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1. c22 ◴[12 Nov 25 16:46 UTC] No.45902365[source]▶
There's a cash-heavy business I work with that's already having a hard time sourcing the pennies they need. I guess they're all in a jar under your desk.
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2. MangoToupe ◴[12 Nov 25 16:51 UTC] No.45902430[source]▶
I have a hard time believing any business relies on access to Pennies when all cash transactions can be rounded to a nickel in some way amenable to both parties. I imagine most customers just don’t give a damn.
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3. c22 ◴[12 Nov 25 17:22 UTC] No.45902858[source]▶
I'm pretty sure they're considering doing this, but I don't know what all the pros and cons or complexities are.
4. didgetmaster ◴[12 Nov 25 17:53 UTC] No.45903313[source]▶
It seems to me that if there was truly a shortage of pennies, banks could offer to pay 2 cents for every penny someone turned in (still far cheaper than minting a new one) and enough people would pull out their penny jars and cash them in.
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5. allknowingfrog ◴[12 Nov 25 18:37 UTC] No.45904007[source]▶
That...actually seems economically sound, but it's also a strong argument for the idea that pennies are effectively worthless.
6. c22 ◴[12 Nov 25 18:55 UTC] No.45904324[source]▶
Now we've unlocked a new lucrative business model where we can cut the customer out entirely! Simply buy pennies from the bank on the dollar and sell them back for 100% profit...