Why You Might Be Telling Your Grandkids About Pennies One Day

We used to bike down to the local grocery store and fill up little brown bags with penny candies, one cent per sweet. Sometime after I moved away and went back home to visit I learned they'd done away with the penny candies. How rude!

Can you imagine? One day you might be sitting in your rocker on the front porch telling your grandkids about pennies.

We used to bike down to the local grocery store and fill up little brown bags with penny candies, one cent per sweet. Sometime after I moved away and went back home to visit I learned they'd done away with the penny candies. How rude!

The problem with pennies is that it costs more to produce one than the one cent that its worth. The government loses money on every penny created.

In 2018 the Saturday Evening Post ran a story with 7 Reasons to Get Rid of the Penny. Vending machines don't want them. Heck, people leave them at the cash register for the next guy.

Most people are moving away from currency altogether -- I can hear my mother calling it "icky" in my head as I write this. My favorite reason the Post listed is that nobody's going to forget President Lincoln, because he's still on the $5 bill after all.

Cynthia Lummis Introduces Legislation to Suspend Production of Penny and Save Taxpayers Money

Senator Cynthia Lummis is resting her argument on the logic that it costs the U.S. three cents to make a one cent coin.

“The time has come to fully end the production of the penny and save American taxpayers money,” Senator Lummis said. “By suspending its production, we can reduce government spending, streamline transactions, and move toward a more practical financial system. It’s time to invest in a future that works for the 21st century economy, and that starts with suspending production of the penny.”

Senator Lummis, along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Representative Lisa McClain (R-MI), and Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), introduced the Common Cents Act, bipartisan legislation to officially suspend production of the penny.