# Are U.S. pennies actually destroyed in souvenir making machines **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359 "2026-11-02T22:18:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/21 "2026-11-03T03:07:20Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Because your friendly neighborhood C10H15N fan will bust that machine open quick. Even if they did use pure-copper discs, the quarters you use to pay for the pressing are probably worth more. Assuming that you refill the slugs at the same time you empty the money, and that the respective reservoirs are sized appropriately, on average, at any randomly-selected time, the machine will contain 50 cents of coins per blank slug. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/22 "2026-11-03T04:38:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A penny on the track won’t derail a train. At most, it’ll derail the penny. Whoosh ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/23 "2026-11-03T04:48:15Z")
I used to get those all the time as a kid, if you looked at the backside you could clearly see the stretched and flattened image of the penny. I remember getting one at the Statue of Liberty in the late-80s. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/24 "2026-11-03T04:51:55Z")
Always assumed it was squishing the penny you inserted since we always went out of our way to find the shiniest penny we could so the final souvenir was just as shiny. Using dull discolored pennies gave a crappy result. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/25 "2026-11-03T08:23:32Z")
Every one I have ever seen used a real penny and you got to observe the smooshing but it’s been years since I paid attention to one. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/26 "2026-11-03T13:49:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A penny on the track won’t derail a train. At most, it’ll derail the penny. That’s why I would bring some tape with me to hold the coins down to the rail. A fast commuter train would otherwise send them flying to who knows where. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/27 "2026-11-03T17:11:55Z")
Quarters? We just put 'em on the train tracks when a train was coming… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/28 "2026-11-03T19:29:19Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I did coins on a railroad track. There was an episode of _The Adventures of Pete and Pete_ where Pete the younger’s lucky penny had to be recharged by getting it run over by a train. No derailment, though this was mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/29 "2026-11-03T19:33:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I have seen several of the machines over the last few years and I, to my knowledge, never saw a little window where you could see actual coin-squishing My experience is the exact opposite. I have seen several machines over the years and I’ve never seen one that didn’t have the squishing penny in plain view somehow (either a window or a complete plexiglass cover). > [@pkbites](#): > > As a kid I had an entire collection of flattened pennies to commemorate my trip to the local railroad tracks. Worked on nickels, dimes, and quarters too Every time I tried that, I could never find the coin afterwards. I suspect that instead of getting squished that the coin just ended up being shot out into the weeds and lost forever. As kids we always talked about coins derailing trains, but if you’ve ever lived in an area with old crappy railroad tracks it should be obvious to you that a train can handle a bigger bump than a quarter. But as kids we never made that connection, even though we lived in an area with old tracks. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/30 "2026-11-03T19:47:53Z")
The squishing on the tracks works if you do it at the station when a train is moving slowly. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/31 "2026-11-03T19:56:06Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Now that pennies are going to disappear, would it be feasible to design one to do nickels? Well, “disappear” is relative, and not happening immediately. They aren’t making new ones, but AFAICT, existing pennies aren’t being taken out of circulation by the banking system. At least part of the penny shortage is caused by the number of people who have a ton of pennies sitting in a coin jar in their houses, and don’t put them back into circulation. The broader issue is that fewer and fewer people are carrying any change at all, which makes switching to nickels not a whole lot of a better solution. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > It happens I saw a real live penny smashing machine just this last Friday at a major amusement park. It was in the Olde Tyme Carnival section of the park. > > The machine charges a dollar on a tap-only credit card acceptor. And inside the window you see a hopper full of real US pennies, and the chute that leads to the squisher, and the dies that will squish the penny into a new shape and emboss it with new graphics. Interesting; whoever owns/operates that machine has figured out a way to keep the “smooshed penny souvenir” business going without requiring the patron to supply any coins. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359/32 "2026-11-03T20:05:17Z")
That was my reaction: darn smart / creative on their part. I _never_ carry change. Not for some years. On the rare occasions I pay cash for something, any change in coins are left sitting on the counter. What happens to them next is not my concern. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-u-s-pennies-actually-destroyed-in-souvenir-making-machines/1034359.md?page=1)