It's going to get harder to spend a penny in the United States if a bill currently before Capitol is passed. Who would have thought that making money would cost the U.S. Mint money. The increasing cost of some metals now means each penny/cent costs 1.4 cents to produce. So the humble penny will probably be phased out (similar to the fate of Australia's 1¢ and 2¢ some years ago) - with all prices rounded to the nearest nickel. Let's hope the price of nickel stays within reasonable (profitable) levels otherwise before long prices will be rounded to the nearest dime, then quarter and then dollar.
Discussing the disappearance of coins with a colleague at work today, she lamented the change from $1 and $2 paper money to coins. Could it have anything to do with the gambling lobby? How easy to give a customer in a gaming establishment dollar coins in their change? And how much easier for that customer to plug those dollars into a machine and try their luck? (Now there's a small research project for a rainy day - why did we change from notes to coins for our $1 and $2 here in Australia?)
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