With inflation and tariffs driving the cost of everything up, it’s no surprise that even the simplest of things will become more expensive. If you offer someone a penny for their thoughts, that won’t be good enough. That’ll now cost you a nickle.
That’s because the Treasury is starting to phase out the penny. They have placed a final order for the blanks used to manufacture the penny and that means that the end is almost here. The penny can trace its history back to 1792 and it actually costs more to make than it’s actually worth.
Our nation’s finest president, President Donald Trump, delivered the death blow by ordering that its production be halted because of its high cost.
So what happens now?
Later this year, the last pennies will roll off the assembly line and, slowly but surely, pennies will start to go the way of the dodo. And how will this affect how we pay for things? Retailers are going to have to round up or round down their prices down to the nickle, making that $1.21 item you want $1.25 as retailers will almost certainly not wish to round down in your favor.
You might want to start holding back your pennies, because there’s no telling what future generations will be willing to pay for what is quickly becoming a collector’s item.
Let’s be honest here: this is likely the beginning of the end for paper currency and paper bills. As the older generations die off, the younger generations will not rely on such things because, let’s face it, everyone has a debit card that they can use directly or that they can put in their Apple Pay or Google Wallet.
As proof that the end just might be nigh, it’s already late May and I have yet to use either paper currency or coins. I see no reason that that streak will be unbroken. I’m not the only one; millions of people are eschewing the old school way of doing things in favor of doing things, you know, intelligently.
It’s 2025, folks. The end of the penny should have already happened. No one, and I mean no one, has any further need for the penny, so get used to it!