The Point of Coins in 2025: A Penny for Our Thoughts
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Funny how our least precious currency has woven its way into our vernacular, sometimes symbolizing something quite valuable.
A penny for your thoughts? That dates back to the 1500s when the British penny was worth a lot more — or at least enough that the offer made sense.
That cost me a pretty penny. Again, mucho dinero.
Would we still use these phrases if the penny didn’t exist, though?
Last month, President Donald Trump said he was ordering his Treasury secretary to stop minting new pennies because they’re so expensive to produce. (In fiscal 2024, the U.S. Mint lost 2.79 cents for every 1 cent it made, or a total of $85.3 million, according to its annual report.)
There would still be plenty in circulation, but how long would that last?
Thanks to inflation, the penny’s purchasing power has fallen more than thirtyfold since 1900, according to the Federal Reserve. And let’s face it, it doesn’t get much respect these days, especially since COVID-19 turbocharged our use of Amazon and Venmo.
In fact, only one-third of consumers carry coins on them anymore, according to a 2022 survey commissioned by the Fed and the U.S. Mint. Another 40% stick them in a jar or piggy bank, with the typical household storing $60 to $90 in coins. The rest throw them in a tip jar, donate them to charity, tell cashiers to keep the change, and even (in 2% of cases) throw them away.
If physical pennies ultimately disappear, will we still rely on 1 cent as a unit of value?
Canada is a test case. They phased out their physical penny in 2013, issuing guidelines that when transactions are in cash, they should be rounded to the nearest 5-cent increment — and only on the total sale price, not each individual item. But there are still plenty of things for $X.99 in Canada’s online shopping world.
In any case, you have to wonder: Will the babies of the latest generation — Generation Beta — look at pennies like millennials look at VHS tapes? Will they know what a “change purse” is or what we used them for? Maybe the zippered compartments of wallets can instead store toothpicks so we keep the salad out of our smile. And we’ll put actual cups in car cupholders.
So what? We’ve been moving away from coins for a while now, at least culturally. The penny’s number seems to be almost up, and the nickel could be next on the hit list. (Unlike dimes and quarters, nickels also cost more to make than they’re worth, though the margin isn’t quite as bad.) And now that they’re on our radar, we can prepare. That contractor dimed and quartered us to death? Hmmm. Maybe not.
Related Reading
• President Trump’s Order Is Latest in the Decades-Long Effort to Eliminate the Penny (NPR)
• There Are No Pennies in Canada. Can DOGE Achieve the Same Feat? (Newsweek)
• Are We Really Headed for a Cashless Society? (Ramsey Solutions)
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