One of the habits that our youngest, Nighean Dhonn, acquired from an early age was the collection of pressed pennies. For those that may not be aware, a pressed penny (also known as an elongated penny or smashed penny) is a penny which is placed into a machine, run through a series of gears and presses, converted into a souvenir of a particular location. I cannot quite remember when she first started collecting them, but over the years she has gotten them at many places that we have visited - or, others have gotten them for her.
Somewhat to my surprise, these have a much longer history that I would have anticipated, first appearing in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL.
As a reliable father, I have taken to carrying to makings of an elongated penny - a penny and two to four quarters - on my person just in case, because you never know. That emergency stash was used in her recent visit to New Home 2.0 (Two points to the home team).
Thus it was with a bit of trepidation that I heard, earlier this year, that pennies are being discontinued.
As a potential gift, I suggested to The Ravishing Mrs. TB that she get a roll of pennies to give Nighean Dhonn for Christmas (along with a roll of quarters). She went to the bank - and got the last roll they had. Apparently, they can no longer order pennies. They will only have them if someone turns them in.
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It is hard for me to imagine a world without pennies.
Yes, of course I understand that a penny now is not what a penny was when I was young. But pennies were the sort of ubiquitous coin that always seemed to be present. The idea of finding a "lucky penny" buoyed my spirits up more than once as I crossed a parking lot or found one in a store (it still does, honestly).
Pennies, for me, served as a gauge of how much things had increased in cost since "the old days": how many times did I read of the late 19th or early 20th century where a penny would buy any number of things. It served as a tangible link to finance of the past.
And now, it appears, it will in turn become a thing of the past.
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Like most coins, they will not immediately disappear. They will still be roaming in the population. For now, people will still use them. And then stores will stop price things in such a way that they have to use pennies (this is going to be an issue for sales tax, of course). And slowly they will slip out of circulation, into the hands of those that use them for other things or collect them, because they will have no use as currency.
I suppose it is ridiculous to get sentimental about the loss of use of a coin - after all, it is not like I use cash all that much anymore. Perhaps my sentimentality derives from the fact that another thing which figured so much into my past and my understanding of the world is slowly slipping away out of use.
It does sadden me a bit that younger generations will not get the thrill of randomly found penny on the ground. But - sadly - perhaps we now live in a world beyond such simple pleasures.
Or at least, most of us. I will still continue to look for them and be filled with joy when I find one.
My kids have a bowl of pressed Pennie’s as well and I’ve made more than one trip back to the car to obtain the correct mix of Pennie’s and quarters for a souvenir. I likely have a lifetime supply of Pennie’s at home in a large glass jug but will have to remember to take a few along with me when we go on vacation, at least until the pressing machines disappear.
ReplyDeleteEd, I have a limited number of pennies for emergencies and they are suddenly more valuable than their face value.
DeleteI will note that some pressing machines now already "have" the penny for you; they just need the required quarters.
Learn something new every day, pressed pennies eh? Those pennies I've got stacked up on the corner of the kitchen table get used at the local Mom & Pop store/butcher shop to make exact change, I don't use plastic and avoid the cost they pass on to customers using that method of payment. Pennies going away will affect sales tax, those won't decrease......reduce taxation? Bah! Humbug!
ReplyDeleteNylon12, I had no idea there was such a history behind them. I always saw them as a novelty only.
DeleteSales tax will for sure not go away - sadly. I do wonder if long term this will change how the percentages of sales tax are figured.
And to think England used to have a half-penny. Maybe they still do?
ReplyDeleteI had no idea about the machines to press souvenir pennies. When I was a kid we lived near a railroad track, so we got our pressed pennies by laying them on the track and waiting for a train to run over them. Usually we found them again, even if it took a bit of hunting.
I'm guessing pennies will eventually become collectors items. I agree with Nylon12, this will effect taxes and prices but not in the consumers' favor. Of course they will round everything up to the nearest nickle!
I've never heard of penny pressing machines either, but I've heard of train smashed ones. A railroad runs through the farm and as a kid I laid pennies on the track trying to get some smashed ones but never had any luck finding them even after I carefully laid out twenty of them.
DeleteLeigh, sadly per the InterWeb, half-pennies were demonetized in 1984.
DeleteI had completely forgotten about putting pennies on tracks until you and Rich wrote on them. I occasionally remember doing this, but never recovering the pennies.
If Japan is any sort of indicator, many many prices are simply round numbers. One can find 1 yen pricing increments in places like convenience stores but it is uncommon. I do agree that everything will be rounded up, which will round up sales tax.
At this rate, a barter economy begins to make more sense as an tax free exchange of value, not prices and taxes.
Rich, I vaguely remember them growing up, but they were very rare. They seem to have become more prevalent in the last 20 years - it is hard to blame places that have them: after the initial cost of the machine, one can make $0.49 to $0.99 on every transaction. The machines are simple and sturdy and likely require limited maintenance.
DeleteWhat lousy luck to not find any of the 20 pennies you put out!
Now it's going to cost a nickel just to get your two cents in.
ReplyDeleteJustin - Somehow "getting my nickel in" does not roll off the tongue like "getting my two cents in", but I do not know why.
DeleteDittos all that. This grampa even took to being sure the pennies in my pocket on vacation were pre-1982. They look a lot better pressed than the later copper washed tin pennies.
ReplyDeleteAnon - That was the date that I was missing. I had forgotten when we moved to the copper wash.
DeleteThis is a secret tax. Prices of everything oddly priced, needing pennies for change, will round UP, not down. It seems utterly insignificant until you step back and see the grand scale of it all. Talk about being '"nickeled and dimed to death!" And is that 7.5% (or whatever) sales tax going to remain the same, or is it going to round up to 10% because, well, your change will be an odd amount requiring pennies?... And on and on and on it goes...
ReplyDeleteThey absolutely will, Pete. Add to the fact that with the reduction of volume and weight in so many items and it becomes a bigger form of creeping inflation.
DeleteIt has so many implications, as you point out. My guess is that prices will be structured to avoid the use of pennies and "round up" - which will likely in time cause sales tax to be "rounded up" to capture potentially lost income.