OPINION —

The last penny has been minted. The humble American “pence” shall be no more. It’s too expensive to produce. It just doesn’t make sense. No pun implied.

The penny costs roughly four cents to manufacture. It’s simply not efficient. The Treasury Department released a statement:

“…Ongoing increases in production costs and the evolution in consumer habits and technology have made [penny] production financially untenable.”

And so, as we march onward, toward a sterilized and cashless world, soulless and artificially intelligent, riddled with “bit coins,” whatever those are, I think about the humble penny. I think of its role in the world I once knew.

The U.S. penny has been produced since 1787. Each penny incarnation has borne different likenesses.

A woman’s head with flowing hai

See Full Page