Goodbye US cent coin

[Ralph Sir Edward]

The last circulating cent coin has been produced.

U.S. Mint in Philadelphia presses final pennies as the 1-cent coin gets canceled

The U.S. Mint has ended production of the penny, a change made to save money and in recognition of the growing irrelevance of the 1-cent coin. The last pennies were struck Wednesday at the mint in Philadelphia, where the country’s smallest denomination coins have been produced since 1793, a year...

www.mprnews.org

However, the comment in the article about the 1/2 cent being the last discontinued denomination is not true. The last ones were the 3 cent nickel and the 3 dollars gold piece, in 1889.

 

[TolmiePeak]

Next they should eliminate nickels. They cost 14 cents to produce.

 

[geist1223]

When I was in the Army in the 1980's (40+ years ago) the Military did away with the Penny. So the total Bill at any of the On Base Facilities was round up or down. It all worked out. Saved this US Government a lot of money not having to ship Pennies around. I have never understood why we have not done that every where in the USA.

 

[moonstone]

Canada stopped producing pennies in 2012 and they were taken out of circulation in Feb. 2013. Prices are rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents for cash transactions only. I think the majority of Canadians do not miss the penny but they were easier and lighter to have in a wallet than our $1. or $2. coin!
We still have a fairly large jar of Canadian pennies at home plus a smaller one of American pennies. Our little granddaughters like to play with them.

~Diane

 

[sponger76]

When I was in the Army in the 1980's (40+ years ago) the Military did away with the Penny. So the total Bill at any of the On Base Facilities was round up or down. It all worked out. Saved this US Government a lot of money not having to ship Pennies around. I have never understood why we have not done that every where in the USA.

They must have reversed that policy a long time ago. I've been in the Army 20 years now, and throughout my entire career that has not been a thing on any of the bases for any of the branches. The closest to it is when I was in the Middle East for OIF, the facilities on the FOBs used pogs instead of coins. But the prices still weren't rounded up or down and necessitated using 1-cent pogs. And back stateside, they definitely to this day still use pennies and don't round anything up or down.

 

[TolmiePeak]

Crazy that Japan still mints 1 yen coins which are worth less than a penny.