THE MOODY MAVEN COUNTS HER POCKET CHANGE

The Fed Stopped Making Pennies — How Will They Pay Us Now?

Will they be rounding up or rounding down? I’d like to say only time will tell, but we already know the answer

“A penny for your thoughts” has been the motto around here for a while. I guess we can expect a switch to something more along the lines of “Gimme that.” Image by Chris Pastrick from Pixabay

The U.S. Mint officially stopped making pennies for circulation on November 12, 2025.

That means that four months and seven days ago, we said goodbye to Honest Abe Lincoln’s copper top.

The penny's demise is a good lesson in how systems interact. I mean, global copper prices are effected by extractions costs. Transportation of raw materials to the mint, pressing the pennies, quality control and distribution overhead all contribute to the burden of pennies.

But what else then will show this ripple effect?

Remember “Take a penny, leave a penny”? These modest “help your neighbor” programs found in your local mom and pop convenience stores and gas stations will soon languish empty. No one will have pennies to put there. Not to mention that jerks that will scoop up all the pennies telling themselves how valuable they will be one day.

No more “penny pitching.” How are the school boys supposed to learn how to compete and gamble without the training that comes with penny pitching? There was a cost to penny pitching — all those pennies! And now? Nuthin’.

And what about “Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck”? Does this mean that luck has been sucked out of the land? Now I will admit, that if I see a penny tails side up, I avoid it like I would a kale salad. But let me run across even just a few heads up pennies and I am off to the casino.

Amid all the various and sundry ramifications of the penny’s exit stage right, let’s not forget the writers.

I’m sure you’ve seen the headlines — “How I made $100 dollars my first week.” Or — “You too can make thousands of dollars and I’ll tell you how!” And — “Would you like gazillions of dollars in your bank account by Friday afternoon? Just write stuff!”

Well, my answers in order would be “Tell me,” “Show me,” and “Yes!”

But the truth is, none of those silly headlines are true. We work for pennies.

Yes, those same pennies that the Fed doesn’t make anymore, and we count on them.

There is a slow and painful climb to that $10 threshold when all the bells, whistles, and direct deposit notifications trigger my endorphin dump — all counted in Lincolns.

I do not know what will happen to the copper miners, or the penny designers, or the coin counting machine repairmen. What I do know is that my paycheck is so small the government doesn’t even bother to make currency for it anymore.

So any luck that the Mr. Lincoln's penny brought to us must have worn out ages ago.

Now I have some advice to another president. You better watch yourself, Mr. Jefferson. The penny’s gone, and the nickel can’t be far behind.