A penny for your thought? How about a gift-card for a penny?
Grocery chains across the northeast, including in Maine, have put out a desperate plea for something that’s been around since 1792 – pennies.
“No pennies at cash self-checkout kiosks” one major retailer, Hannaford, posted in one of its outlets.
Shoppers at Price Chopper and Market 32 stores, which can be found in several New England states, are actually being asked to bring in pennies, which will be exchanged for a gift card worth double the value of their change.
The penny shortage stems from the U.S. Mint ending the coin’s production last week.
For more than 230 years, the penny has circulated through American piggy banks and cash registers.
But rising production costs – each penny now costs nearly four cents to make – and shifts in consumer behavior have made it impractical to keep producing them, Fox News reported.
Let’s give credit where credit is due so to speak – thank President Trump for making the penny less great again.
Honestly, the penny has long been overrated.
The smallest U.S. coin of realm has been really nothing but a coin of hell.
When’s the last time you were dying for a penny?
Like, never?
Even bus drivers and cabbies never liked them. The vintage coin changers they’ve worn on their belts since time in memoriam never had a slot for pennies – only for quarters, nickels and dimes.
The copper penny may have seen its days numbered in 1982, when the U.S. Mint went from copper to copper-plated zinc.
