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Early in February, President Donald Trump ordered the cessation of penny production. Shortly after, the Department of the Treasury confirmed that it will begin phasing out the minting of the iconic coin. Now, we have only one question: What should we do with all the pennies we currently have?
The problem, according to experts, is that each penny costs three cents to manufacture. This represents an expense that, in the opinion of President Trump and the federal government, is unjustifiable. The same is true for the nickel, which costs nine cents per coin to produce.
The Treasury estimates there are 114 million pennies in circulation. All of them will remain legal tender and accepted in retail stores. However, recent research shows that millions of dollars worth of pennies are lying abandoned in jars and drawers across the country.
What to do with your pennies?
There's no simple answer. According to a 2023 Federal Reserve study, only 16% of consumers still pay with cash. Amid this situation, each household has an average of between $60 and $90 in unused pennies. Even worse, millions of dollars worth of change of all denominations end up in landfills every year.
One option is to go to one of the coin exchange machines that Coinstar has installed in thousands of supermarkets. Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, says that consumers tend to underestimate the value of their penny jars; so, if they go to a coin exchange machine, they might be pleasantly surprised.
If you don't want to pay the Coinstar fee to exchange your coins, you can also go to a bank or credit union. According to McColly, each jar of pennies contains an average of $53, which not only allows consumers to buy something more useful than a jar of pennies but is also money that circulates back into the national economy reducing inflation.
Do I Have a Valuable Coin at Home?
Although we've all seen news stories about coins of different denominations selling for millions of dollars, the truth is that these are very rare, which is why they are so valuable.
Experts explain that the rarest pennies someone could find in their jar are the so-called "wheat pennies," minted between 1909 and 1958. A few of them have sold for $1 million, but the vast majority would only fetch around $100,000 at auction.
Less Orthodox Uses
The Farmers Bank has slightly less glamorous uses for the humble pennies. The copper they're made of can be used as a fungicide to keep flowers fresh. They can also be used as improvised tools and paperweights or even as cold packs, stuffing them into a sock and placing it in the refrigerator.
Although the penny will remain a staple in our lives, its gradual phasing marks the end of an era in the American economy.