current payment trends<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cIf you look at a chart or a graph of kind of cash versus credit and debit card, it\u2019s an overwhelming majority, almost 70% are using some form of electronic payment, whether it\u2019s credit or debit card, Venmo, Cash App and those kind of things. And only 14% actually use cash,\u201d Arnold said.<\/p>\n
With fewer pennies in circulation, Arnold hopes penny pinchers will bust their coins out from the jar or bag sitting at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cBanks will be encouraging some of their consumers and businesses to bring those pennies back into circulation because there\u2019s going to be, over time, they will dwindle and be fewer and fewer out there,\u201d Arnold said.<\/p>\n
Faissal Zeitouni, owner of Worldwide Rare Coins, said pennies tell stories of American history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how they started, with the big size penny, large pennies,\u201d Zeitouni said. \u201cIn 1943, during the war, they needed the copper. So, they started minting them in steel,\u201d Zeitouni said.<\/p>\n
While some rare pennies can be worth thousands, Zeitouni said most pennies retain only face value. He says in the numismatic business, the internet is a dangerous place to get information.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless it\u2019s one of the few pennies that are worth more, a penny is going to still be worth a penny. It\u2019s a better idea to sell these pennies, exchange them for silver or gold or something that would have a force against inflation…a hedge against inflation, if you will,\u201d Zeitouni said.<\/p>\n
Some businesses are feeling the shortage and have decided to round up or down for customers who pay cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople like the penny, they\u2019re used to the penny, but you can always round up and down, and there\u2019s really no need for it,\u201d Zeitouni said.<\/p>\n
Arnold noted the Federal Reserve expects rounding up to cost America\u2019s cash-paying consumers $6 million a year, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople will vote with their pocketbook and they\u2019ll probably transition a little quicker to transactions using a debit card or a credit card because it\u2019s going to cost them more money,\u201d Arnold said.<\/p>\n
The Treasury estimates about 300 billion pennies are still in circulation and remain legal tender.<\/p>\n
While the penny\u2019s legacy may live on, even through popular phrases if not through the coin itself, it\u2019s many years of production are over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an end of an era, but everything comes to an end,\u201d Zeitouni said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The United States Treasury has decided making cents no longer makes sense, minting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[33423,33414,7990,8072,7982,33432,33420,33419,33433,33415,33428,33416,2409,33431,31580,25101,33424,33435,6804,33417,33434,24753,168,170,169,33425,33422,14016,24968,24028,33427,33429,19076,32976,33421,33418,24448,11813,33430,375,33426],"class_list":["post-63883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-1-cent","tag-banker","tag-brittany-crittenden","tag-businesses","tag-cash","tag-cashless","tag-cent","tag-cents","tag-circulation","tag-coin","tag-coins","tag-collector","tag-consumer","tag-customer","tag-down","tag-end","tag-era","tag-faissal-zeitouni","tag-federal-reserve","tag-give","tag-james-arnold","tag-last","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-market-president","tag-mints","tag-on","tag-owner","tag-penny","tag-rare","tag-round","tag-round-up","tag-transaction","tag-treasury","tag-two","tag-u-s","tag-umb-bank","tag-up","tag-west-texas","tag-worldwide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}