# When will the US mint stop making pennies?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-us-mint-stop-making-pennies/598685>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 5, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-us-mint-stop-making-pennies/598685 "2011-10-05T14:35:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 33

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**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-us-mint-stop-making-pennies/598685/33 "2011-10-05T23:35:22Z")

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> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> Two days ago, I had no change (left my change purse home) and I bought something that cost $2.01. I paid with a $5 bill, expecting to get $3 in change. No, I got $2.99 exactly. Amazing. This was at Staples, incidentally. (What can you buy at Staples that comes to $2.01 with tax? A bottle of Wite-Out.)

Where I work, our Marlboro cigarettes, all styles, used to come to, after tax, $5.26. If I gave everyone who bought a pack using 6.00 in cash .75 change instead of $.74, my register would be short probably a quarter over one shift. Over a day, maybe a dollar. Over a month, $30 profit, down the shitter.

I’ll grant you, Staples was probably selling almost no single bottles of Wite-Out as a whole transaction, but pennies really do add up.

Joe

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