# What happens when a coin is removed from the lineup? Would the penny be "demonitized" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718 "2000-08-01T17:05:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tshirts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/1 "2000-08-01T17:05:44Z")
What happens when a coin is removed from the lineup? Would the penny be “demonitized”? Or would it just be officially accepted until it was so rare no one would try to pay debts with it? I’m asking really about precedents, since we have other coins that stopped being minted. Were they demonitized? (Yes, I know the law that small change need not be accepted for debts over a certain size, like $1, I’m talking about something more official, like in other countries, where old coins are explicitly renounced.) ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/2 "2000-08-01T17:36:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tshirts \* > \*\*I’m asking really about precedents, since we have other coins that stopped being minted. > \*\* Well, Precedent Lincoln is on the penny, Precedent Jefferson is on the nickel, Precedent F. Roosevelt is on the dime, Precedent Washington is on the quarter, Precedent Kennedy is on the half dollar. Precedent Eisenhower used to be on the dollar coin. Then they made the dollar coin smaller and put a woman on the coin, who was never precedent. And on the new Golden Dollar coin, neither the girl nor the baby were or ever became precedent. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/3 "2000-08-01T17:45:33Z")
Well, I believe that you can still use Silver Certificates as real money, although why anyone would want to is beyond me. I suspect with the penny, the mints will shut down their production. Then, they will go through their normal life cycle (get old, get collected and destroyed by the Fed). Sooner or later, no one will have them or use them anymore. Of course, you’ll still have a whole bunch of idiots out there who will hold onto thousands of them in hopes that they become “collectors’ items” or some such. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/4 "2000-08-01T18:22:20Z")
The US used to have half-cent coins. I imagine you _could_ spend them as if they were worth 0.5 cents. There also used to be twenty cent pieces, and gold coins worth 5 and other dollar multiples. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/5 "2000-08-01T18:49:40Z")
The United States has never “demonitized” any general circulation bill or coin due to retirement. Gold coins in general were made illegalto possess, except for collectors, but that’s a different issue. > [@](#): > > …would it just be officially accepted until it was so rare no one would try to pay debts with it? Yep, that plus the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank would remove from circulation any of the bills/coins which came into it’s possession. Financial institutions would probably be asked (not forced) to send those bills/coins to the Fed in their regular shipments as opposed to recirculating. > [@](#): > > I’m asking really about precedents, since we have other coins that stopped being minted. More often than not, the US Mint changes the design of a coin as opposed to changing denomination. The last denomination coin to “lose authorization” was the three cent piece in 1889. You could still spend it at face value today, but you’d be a fool to do so. Since that time authorized denominations (one cent, five cent, 10 cent, twenty-five cent, fifty cent, and one dollar) have not changed. Coin _design_ has changed at least once on all denominations, and though the fifty cent piece is still “authorized”, none are currently being minted. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/6 "2000-08-01T19:24:39Z")
Doing away with the penny would have a lot of unintended consequences as the smallest denimination of cash is changed by a factor of five, much more severe than when the half cent piece was done away with. Adding sales tax to small purchases becomes much more clumsy as one has to round to the nearest five cents. IIRC the AAFES (overseas military exchange service) considered pricing all items in five cent increments to save the cost of shipping pennies. This might have worked as all military exchanges are exempt from local and state sales taxes. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/7 "2000-08-01T20:17:59Z")
I think it is true that NO U.S. currency has ever lost its official claim to being worth at least its printed face value – bills as well as coins. I have never personally seen a bill larger than the $100, and it isn’t the kind of thing you’d expect to slide along unnoticed in general circulation (“Hey, Tony, ya got change for a thousand?”), but if you found some thousand-dollar bills in your Aunt Theresa’s grandmother’s hat box while going through the attic, I think they would be valid legal tender and could be deposited at the bank or exchanged for more modern denominations equalling the same amount. This is not however true for currency of the Confederate States of America. ---
**Author:** ![tshirts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/8 "2000-08-01T22:04:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padeye \* > \*\*IIRC the AAFES (overseas military exchange service) considered pricing all items in five cent increments to save the cost of shipping pennies. This might have worked as all military exchanges are exempt from local and state sales taxes. \*\* One of the ways other countries avoid this problem is to require (in the US it is an option) that sales tax be included in the price. You usually see this on movie and amusement park tickets, where the fine print indicates tas is included as a fraction of the round-dollar price. ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/9 "2000-08-01T23:27:19Z")
Yes, and that is a rarity amoung Nations, that every unit of currency the US has ever issued is still legal currency. Try to spend those old pre-war francs, marks pesos,or lira, they are worthless (except for a minor collectors value, and if they are made of silver). ---
**Author:** ![JoeyHemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ba0ec/32.png) [@JoeyHemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyHemlock)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/10 "2000-08-01T23:48:40Z")
The biggest opponent to penny removal is the zinc industry. And, SUPRISE! The penny is mostly zinc. Read arguments [for](http://www.coincoalition.org) and [against](http://www.pennies.org) penny removal. Common sense says that pennies aren’t worth the trouble anymore, so I’m going to guess that Gov’t does the opposite. I say ditch the penny and add the $1 (and hopefully $2) full-time (stop printing the paper). ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2000, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/11 "2000-08-01T23:49:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padeye \* > **IIRC the AAFES (overseas military exchange service) considered pricing all items in five cent increments to save the cost of shipping pennies. This might have worked as all military exchanges are exempt from local and state sales taxes.** My brother recently worked at the U.S. Marine base in Okinawa, and he said pennies generally weren’t used there, because of the cost of bringing them in. For tax purposes, old coins used in financial transactions have to be valued at their collector value, if it is higher than their face value. A few back ago, the silver content in contained in silver dimes reached about $1 each. (U.S. dimes were made of silver until 1964). Some guy announced he would let people buy items at 1/10th the normal cost if they paid with silver dimes, but the government said the sales tax would have to be based on the full value of the purchase, not the face value of the silver dimes. ---
**Author:** ![Roppy\_Bork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de053/32.png) [@Roppy\_Bork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roppy_Bork)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/12 "2000-08-02T10:58:06Z")
We used to have one cent and two cent coins down here. Now the lowest denomination is five cents. If I recall correctly, there was a set date at which 1c and 2c were no longer going to be accepted. People were encouraged to take all their coins along to the banks who removed them from circulation. The total cost of your purchase is now rounded to the nearest five cents at payment time if you pay by cash. If you pay by check or electronically it isn’t rounded. A lot of prices are rounded to the nearest 5c anyway. The only real difference is now you have to get used to things being priced $9.95 instead of $9.99. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2000, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-coin-is-removed-from-the-lineup-would-the-penny-be-demonitized/27718/13 "2000-08-02T16:14:47Z")
It’s true that other coins have been discontinued before, but they usually disappeared virtually overnight, for one or more of the following reasons. (1) They actually became illegal to possess or spend (gold coinage in 1933) (2) They became intrinsically worth more than their face value (like silver dollars and halves after 1964). Other types of coins were discontinued, mainly in the 19th century, but I don’t think they were ever demonetized. There were half-cents, gold dollars (very small), three-dollar gold pieces, four dollar gold pieces, and several others.