When the U.S. Treasury announced it was finally pulling the plug on the penny, a bunch of people went “Noooo!”… before realizing they had not actually used a penny since Blockbuster Video was a thing?
The penny got the boot because it costs more to make than it’s worth. That alone feels like a metaphor for half the things in our junk drawers. But for some Americans, eliminating the penny was just the warm-up act.
According to a new survey, 24% of people say they would also be fine tossing nickels into the historical dumpster. Meanwhile, 58% want to keep them, including 34% who strongly oppose nickel extinction. These are apparently very passionate nickel fans. Nicklers? Nickelheads? Nickelbacks? (Sorry.)
But here is the real plot twist: 14% of Americans want the government to stop making all coins. Every last one. No pennies, no nickels, no dimes, no quarters, no rogue Sacagawea dollars haunting the bottom of your purse. Just round everything to the nearest dollar and call it a day. No more loose change in your cupholder, no more jingling pockets, no more “Does anyone have 17 cents?” at the gas station.
If you’re wondering why this debate exists at all, here is the fun part. Pennies cost 3.7 cents to make. Nickels cost nearly 14 cents.
That said, dimes and quarters do cost less to produce than their face-value.
As for how often people actually spend pennies, the answer is: they mostly do not. Nearly 30% of Americans say they would not even bend down to pick up a penny off the ground. 11% claim they use pennies every day, which honestly feels like a bigger confession than they meant it to be. That group tends to be older, lower-income Southerners. Another 19% use pennies weekly, 18% monthly, and a solid 28% say they never spend pennies at all. Another 16% use them so rarely it might as well be a leap-year tradition.
So the penny is gone. The nickel is sweating. And somewhere out there is a very determined 14% who dream of a future where everything costs a clean, round number and your only loose change is that one rogue guitar pick in your pocket.