Trump Plan to Ditch the Penny Comes With Twist: It May Not Save Much

Anyone writing a check or using a debit card or credit card could have the correct amount paid since no actual cash changes hands, and pennies would not have to be paid by the buyer or returned by the seller,

he said

You find out fast how much people care about coins the moment you start talking about removing [Lincoln],

Diehl told the New York Times

Convenience stores sell a lot of products, but what they really sell is speed of service,

said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the group

Greg Mankiweconomist

When people start leaving a monetary unit at the cash register for the next customer, the unit is too small to be useful,

said Gregory Mankiw, a Harvard economics professor and former chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors under President George W. Bush

Without the penny, the volume of nickels in circulation would have to rise to fill the gap in small-value transactions. Far from saving money, eliminating the penny shifts and amplifies the financial burden,

said American for Common Cents, a pro-penny group funded primarily by Artazn, the company that has the contract to provide the blanks used to make pennies

In most countries, the lowest domination coin is the most minted coin,

he said

Prices would have to be rounded to the nearest five cents to allow for cash payments and correct change received back — that will be the end of $6.99 fast food combo meals,

Gulley said,

Pennies would become more scarce over time and eventually increase in value. In the near term, they might become useless, depending on how the Treasury treats them. I would think that would have to be in phases so people could convert them to other denominations, thus removing them from the system,

Little says

It's the nickel we should worry about,

Throckmorton said

I have a wheat penny sitting in my jewelry box because I knew when I found it nearly 20 years ago that they were becoming increasingly harder to find,

Maike said

Eliminating the U.S. penny wouldn't make any difference in the economy,

Little said

How will people give their two cents?"

said Eileen Kailholz, a retiree in Bright, Indiana

Ajay Patelemergency Medical Technician Rahul Parmar and pilot

The individuals paying for this benefit will be those who purchase products and services using cash and will continue to do so going forward because they are either unbanked or unable to access debit or credit cards or a digital wallet,

Patel said

Businesses might round up more often than down, leading to a slight inflationary effect,

says David Smith, an economics professor at Pepperdine University's Graziadio Business School

Here in Northeast Ohio's Amish country, we still use pennies regularly,

Maike says of her area, which includes thousands of generally cash-using Amish

Eliminating the penny would save taxpayers millions of dollars each year. In addition, the production of pennies has environmental costs, including the mining of zinc and copper, eliminating the penny could have a positive environmental impact,

he said

We believe this order would survive judicial review, which is why this is likely to occur,

Seiberg wrote on Monday

The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023,

said Doge,

Todd Martinamerican tennis player

In normal circumstances, retail transactions and coin recyclers return a significant amount of coins to circulation on a daily basis,

Martin told Reader's Digest in 2023

It's expensive to mint coins, and it's also expensive for businesses to process small coins,

Robert K. Triest, professor of economics at Northeastern University, recently told Northeastern Global News