At the direction of President Trump, the U.S. Treasury will soon stop producing pennies. The department will cease production once its supply of blank pennies run out, most likely at the beginning of next year. It is important to note that producing a single penny costs nearly four cents.

For the most part, I am supportive of the move. These days, I find pennies more of a nuisance and germ spreader than anything. Although I receive satisfaction when a penny helps me pay with exact change, I find myself consistently throwing away pennies when I empty my pockets.

I do have a few short stories that deal with pennies (which will probably bore you)…

Beau holding a couple pennies—which he practically considers gold.

– I took swimming lessons for several years at a pool in the neighborhood I grew up in. After the instructional part of each lesson concluded, we dove/swam for pennies at the bottom of the pool. We then exchanged those pennies for prizes. I don’t think copper coins ever looked as beautiful as they did when resting on the blue floor of that pool on a sunny summer day. Shoutout to the Sally Davis Swim School!

– My Knights of Columbus council participates in a program called Pennies For Heaven. At every monthly meeting, we pass around a large container and drop our “pennies” into the opening. As you could probably guess from how I punctuated that sentence, most Knights drop money of the paper variety into the container despite the name of the initiative. With all that said, with the elimination of the penny, many charities will most likely face a decrease in donations as they work to replace penny drives.

– I will never forget that one time as a broke 10-year-old when the ice cream truck came through the neighborhood. With parents unwilling to treat me on this particular day, I managed to scavenge enough pennies in the house to purchase the cheapest ice popsicle offered (which I believe was $.50…this was 28 years ago). I honestly remember this so vividly: I put all my change on the mini platform right outside the ice cream truck driver’s window and started counting it out. The driver stopped me halfway and told me I was good.

The penny had a great run.

It is time for the penny to go but I appreciate the memories it provided. Don’t Blink.