Mature Life Features

. . .announced

that her son just told her

he was born again

and the lady said

she didn’t feel a thing.

Penny Earned No Longer Possible

The penny will soon be in only our thoughts, to paraphrase an old adage.

Penny production is being phased out this year and the last batch will be available in proof sets next spring. The coin is being discontinued because it costs more than 2 cents to produce the 1 cent piece.

Canada quit making pennies a decade ago because it was costing too much to make them.

Almost 290 billion U.S. pennies have been produced and some 150 billion are still in circulation. The rest have been tossed into fountains, tucked into jars or loafers, made into jewelry or rolled onto a sidewalk somewhere.

Pragmatists predict business will round out prices for everyone to accommodate the loss of the penny. This might get complicated where prices are displayed before any sales taxes are added.

Relinquishing of the penny is a reminder of the pressures being exerted to do away with cash. Promoters of a cashless society argue that maintaining automated teller machines (currently paid for by the banks) is costly. Retailers and other businesses complain that taking cash takes more time and money than payments made by store card, debit card, credit card or cryptocurrency. And don’t forget your handy dandy contactless-payment tool in your hand – the cell phone.

The pressures for change are not going away. Next in the line of sight of those who want to abolish coins is the nickel. Their argument sounds familiar. It costs about 7 cents to make a nickel.