Say goodbye to the penny
The act eliminating them is a pun:
The House of Representatives voted to send the smallest piece of US currency the way of the dodo on Monday, passing the bipartisan Common Cents Act in a unanimous vote.
In addition to blocking the Treasury from minting any more pennies save for collector coins, the bill would also set up a framework for cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest 5 cents, in order to eliminate the need for pennies altogether.
When was the last time you used a penny? Now they cost too much to manufacture. So begone!
When I was a kid, penny candy was actually a thing. We went to a little news store that had many bins of it and made our choices carefully. But that’s when a candy bar usually cost a nickel.
I remember debating this with my roommate almost 40 years ago. His argument was that stores would round everything up to the nearest nickel. My argument was “Who cares?”
Pennies are long overdue to be eliminated, and they only lasted as long as they because of zinc industry lobbyists.
I seldom pay for anything with cash anymore — I think that’s true of most people. When I do, it’s for something that costs less than a dollar or two. (Or at my local laundromat, where the machines only take quarters.)
On the other hand, I still want the choice to pay in cash to be available to me.