No more pennies? Let me put my two cents in.

[JohnnyRingo]

This week they quit minting pennies and I wondered the effect. I found one example tonight when I stopped at Arbys. I had the new turkey and bacon club (not bad) and mac n cheese. I paid with a $20.

The change was something like $8.22. The cashier told me they took her pennies away so she could only give me $8.20. She said there wasn't even a place in the drawer anymore. I pointed out in that case she should round up and give me Eight dollars and a quarter, but that went no where and it wasn't her fault anyway.

I asked what would happen if I'd given her the exact change. She said - get this - she can't accept pennies as payment! I'm no lawyer but can they do that? Can retailers refuse what was legal tender just last week? What am I going to do with this cookie jar full of pennies? Will we have to sell our pennies at a scrap yard? I have questions.

If I saw two pennies on the floor I probably wouldn't bend over to pick them up, but I'm going to write a very stern letter to Arbys about that two cents. Maybe I'll get a coupon for a nickel off my next visit.

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[bucolic_frolic]

1. Theft by taking is a reportable crime.

Time for citizens to report thievery to the proper authorities.

[Happy Hoosier]

8. C'mon... it's not theft if they tell you about it up front.

My understanding is that places doing this are rounding prices to the nearest $.05.

So $8.21 and $8.22 (I know it was change, not the price, but you get the picture) would be $8.20
$8.23 and $8.24 is $8.25.

It's not that complicated.

[GreatGazoo]

2. Pricing everything as "$XX.99" while not using pennies

is dystopian.

[Jerry2144]

11. yes. but who buys only one item at a store each time they visit

usually you have multiple items to buy and the pennies eventually get to the nickel level. And then sales tax.

I agree, if prices were written to the nearest nickel/dime/quarter/dollar and if taxes were included in the sticker price (like the rest of the world), then things would be easier.

[ITAL]

3. There are billions of pennies

I'm pretty sure some companies will still accept them, they're still legal tender. Not making new ones doesn't mean the old ones don't have value.

We're likely decades away from them being gone from circulation -- but maybe not.

[Srkdqltr]

5. Yes. This whole thing is odd? People don't think.

[Srkdqltr]

4. There are gazillions of pennies. They just stopped making them. They aren't making folks turn them in.

What do i do with the huge jar 🫙 of pennies my hubby has saved? Will the government 🤔 take them back? They are still worth a penny.

[Happy Hoosier]

6. Cash them in soon. NT

[Srkdqltr]

7. Yes. I thought that.

[Freddie]

9. They haven't had pennies in Canada for years

Works for them. Cash transactions are rounded but .01 still exists if you pay by check or card and in banking transactions.

[ITAL]

10. Do they plain not exist

Or are they just rare? I only ask this because I was told before we went to France a few years ago that they didn't have pennies. While we were in Paris, that was true...all transactions were rounded. However, when we went out into rural France, we did receive change in pennies a couple of times.

I sorta wonder if that might be how it is for a few years as pennies slowly cycle out.

[Freddie]

12. Honestly don't know

Tried to pay at a restaurant with exact change and they gave me the (American) pennies back as they had no use for them.