# I am very disappointed in the new US pennies **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673 "2017-09-06T21:40:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/41 "2017-09-07T20:12:02Z")
> [@JerrySTL](#): > > I found a 1944 wheatie in my change today. That’s 10 years older than I am which makes it OLD. Good condition at best; probably worth about 15 cents. Approximately 3 weeks ago I found an 1875 Indian head penny in my change; it’s in fair condition so only worth $16 according to my research. But probably, in reality, if I took it to a coin dealer he’d probably offer me like six bucks and tell me to go suck a bag of dicks if I wanted anything more than that. Not to disparage the numismatic profession, but that’s been my experience : ``` About 8 years ago I bought some gold from a dealer - this was when I thought the economy was crashing and I was listening to took much Peter Schiff. Anyway, I bought a Keugerrand and it was like $1100, then I sold it back to the same guy around 2 weeks later and got way less than spot; I lost like $200. Never use any of the AM radio type stuff you hear to make financial decisions- that was my take away from this whole event. ``` That’s when I started looking more closely at my change . . . > [@mikecurtis](#): > > You may be surprised to hear that the zinc pennies are actually heavier than the copper ones: 3.11g vs 2.5g. > But they are not made in the exact same way. the new “shield” pennies are stamped with less relief; which, counter-intuitively, makes them feel thinner. the face and the monument used to feel thicker than the edge; now the whole cent feels as just one thickness. > > mc That right there, that’s the sauce. I didn’t mention specifics so as not to poison the opinion well, but that right there is what gives them the cheap look. At first I thought they were saving money by using the same die for a longer period of time, but then I saw that all the pennies were low relief so I thought there was something else in play. I compared the new to older pennies; the difference seems drastic to me. They should just end the penny now. It’s like when your dog is dying of cancer or some dog wasting disease and you prolong its life and then this once noble creature is reduced to a cowering pathetic shell of its former self. Just let it die with some dignity. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/42 "2017-09-07T20:29:49Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > But probably, in reality, if I took it to a coin dealer he’d probably offer me like six bucks and tell me to go suck a bag of dicks if I wanted anything more than that. By “suck a bag of dicks” do you mean sucking on the bag (I picture a cloth bag of some sort) which contains dicks (amputated?!), or do you mean sucking on a number of individual dicks one at a time, putting each back into the bag when you finish with it? “Suck a bag of dicks” needs clarification.😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/43 "2017-09-07T20:47:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > By “suck a bag of dicks” do you mean sucking on the bag (I picture a cloth bag of some sort) which contains dicks (amputated?!), or do you mean sucking on a number of individual dicks one at a time, putting each back into the bag when you finish with it? > > “Suck a bag of dicks” needs clarification.😕 Oddly enough, Louis Ck tried to [parse the meaning of this phrase](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT7xc_XqYO8), but IIRC he didn’t come to any meaningful conclusions. I don’t know, I’m from Philadelphia - we just accept a lot of things without questioning them too deeply. For example, why is everything called “Jawn”, makes no sense. I tell people I’m from Philly and they ask me, “hey, why do they say “Jawn” all the time like ''this jawn” “that jawn” “her jawn” his jawn". I don’t know - in fact I never even thought much about it until I left Philadelphia. I have no idea why we say “werter” instead of “water” either. Once someone in London asked me why they named a city after cream cheese - but I think he was being facetious and that’s neither here nor there. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/44 "2017-09-07T22:13:34Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > Oddly enough, Louis Ck tried to [parse the meaning of this phrase](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT7xc_XqYO8), but IIRC he didn’t come to any meaningful conclusions. I don’t know, I’m from Philadelphia - we just accept a lot of things without questioning them too deeply. For example, why is everything called “Jawn”, makes no sense. I tell people I’m from Philly and they ask me, “hey, why do they say “Jawn” all the time like ''this jawn” “that jawn” “her jawn” his jawn". I don’t know - in fact I never even thought much about it until I left Philadelphia. I have no idea why we say “werter” instead of “water” either. Once someone in London asked me why they named a city after cream cheese - but I think he was being facetious and that’s neither here nor there. I left the area in 1978 so the first time I heard ‘jawn’ I was baffled. Seems to be a synonym for ‘thing’. The ‘bag of dicks’ jawn sounds meaningful, but yeah, it makes no sense if you parse it. I don’t want someone to suck dicks that have been removed from their owners, I want them to suck real dicks. I guess the quantity ‘bag of’ can apply to anything now, not just things that could be reasonably put into a bag. Language is just weird, it’s like people just made up the words and their meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/45 "2017-09-07T23:29:47Z")
How is “jawn” used in a sentence? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/46 "2017-09-08T00:55:19Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > How is “jawn” used in a sentence? It’s basically a synonym for “thing” as someone mentioned earlier. I’d say it has a little more restricted usage than the word thing; most often I hear it used as a modifier for another noun. So, if you had a sentence such as “The thing to remember about crossing the street is to make sure your pants are on.”- in that sentence it would not really make sense to replace the word “thing” with “jawn”. In an example such as the sentence “I think this S-shaped thing on my bicycle needs to be replaced” the word jawn would be an appropriate replacement, in fact the whole would sound like this “yo, I need a new s-jawn.” There are probably better examples. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/47 "2017-09-08T07:17:37Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > You may be surprised to hear that the zinc pennies are actually heavier than the copper ones: 3.11g vs 2.5g. > But they are not made in the exact same way. the new “shield” pennies are stamped with less relief; which, counter-intuitively, makes them feel thinner. the face and the monument used to feel thicker than the edge; now the whole cent feels as just one thickness. > > mc You might want to check your sources again; I think you have that [reversed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(United_States_coin)#History_of_composition). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/48 "2017-09-08T07:31:41Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Since the production cost of both the penny and the nickel exceeds the face value, it’s absolutely correct to say they’re not worth producing or using (even aside from the fact that you really can’t buy anything for a penny, a nickel or a dime). A dime, at least, is still somewhat defensible as a denomination, not least because, due to its earlier history as a silver coin, it is smaller than a penny while being worth ten times as much. I know, ten times nothing is still nothing, but if you imagine the price of a modest everyday transaction as a line drawn on paper, you can often still visualize the value of a dime as a portion of that. With a penny that would be next to impossible. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/49 "2017-09-08T20:28:57Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > You might want to check your sources again; I think you have that [reversed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(United_States_coin)#History_of_composition). Yeah, I was confused about that too, (that’s why i said “you might be surprised to know…”) My source was [cointrackers](http://cointrackers.com/blog/43/how-much-does-a-penny-weigh/) > [@](#): > > The 2.5 grams Lincoln Penny is composed of brass (95% copper, 5% zinc), while the 3.11 grams Union Shield is composed of copper-plated zinc (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper). All current U.S. pennies have a diameter of 19.05 mm, a thickness of 1.52 mm, and are composed primarily of zinc (97.5%) with a copper plating (2.5%). The US mint says the penny weighs 2.5g and agrees with the rest of the data. . .sorry mc ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/50 "2017-09-08T20:39:22Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Yeah, I was confused about that too, (that’s why i said “you might be surprised to know…”) My source was [cointrackers](http://cointrackers.com/blog/43/how-much-does-a-penny-weigh/) > > The US mint says the penny weighs 2.5g and agrees with the rest of the data. . .sorry > > mc Copper weighs more than zinc does though. Cointrackers must just have it backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/51 "2017-09-08T22:45:36Z")
I’m very disappointed we continue to have pennies. You remember how in Pratchett’s Making Money, the mint operated at a loss and this was this big funny joke? Yeah, about that… Ditch the nickel and dime too. When’s the last time you paid a dime for something? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/52 "2017-09-09T07:40:53Z")
It takes money to make money, I guess. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/53 "2017-09-09T09:00:14Z")
All US coins are of both poor design and poor manufacture. While we should fix the banknotes first, the coins also need attention. The government ought to have a design contest. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/54 "2017-09-09T12:13:40Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > All US coins are of both poor design and poor manufacture. While we should fix the banknotes first, the coins also need attention. The government ought to have a design contest. to what end? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/55 "2017-09-09T19:48:05Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I am very disappointed that they still bother minting pennies. > > and dollar bills, for that matter. +1 ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/56 "2017-09-10T02:59:36Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I am very disappointed that they still bother minting pennies. > > and dollar bills, for that matter. My ideal: I’d get rid of pennies, nickels and dimes. We’d have 25¢, $1, $2 and $5 coins, and $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673/57 "2017-09-10T13:18:47Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > My ideal: I’d get rid of pennies, nickels and dimes. We’d have 25¢, $1, $2 and $5 coins, and $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills. Japan sort of did that, they only use bills for anything 1000 Yen (~ $10) and greater. but they (like us) still were minting 1 Yen coins up until last year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-very-disappointed-in-the-new-us-pennies/795673.md?page=2)