Locals, experts say halting penny production makes sense

What’s a country to do when a penny isn’t worth a red cent anymore? Stop minting them, apparently.

President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. Treasury to stop making 1-cent coins because their manufacturing cost exceeds their value, as it takes nearly 4 cents to mint and distribute a penny. It’s predicted that halting production will save taxpayers $56 million annually, but some worry that prices for everyday items will be rounded up, increasing demand for nickels, which cost nearly 14 cents per coin to mint. Shoppers in Franklin County seem unfazed by the decision, saying it makes perfect sense.

“I’m OK with it,” Denise Aldrich said after a shopping trip at Hannaford in Orange on Thursday. “If it can save us money, why not, right?”

She said she feels pennies are pretty inconsequential to anyone’s buying power.

“I’ve got jugs of them at home,” she said with a laugh. “They’re just sitting there.”

Aldrich said she just hopes companies don’t increase their prices.

Pennies would still be legal tender and consumers could still use any of the 114 billion that are in circulation.

“I can remember when a penny was worth something,” Bernie Brouillet said outside Hannaford, two weeks shy of his 78th birthday. He recalled recycling bottles and cans and buying candy with the money.

Brouillet said he thinks any price increases or decreases will be insignificant. He also said most people shop with debit or credit cards and wouldn’t notice.

The cost of making a penny first exceeded its face value nearly 20 years ago, in 2006.

“That’s not cost-effective,” shopper Manny Monarca said outside Food City in Turners Falls on Thursday.

He said most people can’t afford to be nickel-and-dimed by corporations and giant retailers, and he fears the lack of penny production may be used as a justification. Monarca also mentioned the Trump administration has boasted about saving taxpayer money, but he has not seen it reflected in his bank account.

Coin experts in the area agree with layman shoppers, saying penny production is a waste of taxpayer funds and putting a stop to it is logical.

“It’s great. We’re saving money,” said Gary Konvelski, owner of Gary’s Coins and Antiques, who has been in the business since 1993 and has owned his shop at 56 Avenue A in Turners Falls for 15 years. “And what do people do with their pennies? They put them in a jar.”

The penny was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint, entering circulation in 1793. Canada, New Zealand and Australia have eliminated their one-cent coins, citing a decline in purchasing value. Konvelski mentioned Canada also has 1- and 2-dollar coins, and paper currency has been converted into virtually indestructible plastic.

Athol resident and coin dealer J.R. Greene said the government’s decision is “rather overdue.”

“Billions of them are out there, so I don’t think they’re going to disappear,” he said.

Greene started collecting coins when he was 6 years old and paid his way through college by selling them at flea markets. He owned a shop in Athol in the 1980s and is now a vendor at coin shows and flea markets, selling coins as well as photographs, postcards, booklets and pamphlets.

He believes this move likely won’t save much taxpayer money, but it will help the U.S. Mint’s bottom line.

Every penny minted since 1982 is made of copper-plated zinc.

“In a way, it’s a modern problem. In the 1900s, coins were worth their weight in the metal they’re made of,” explained Charles Hertan, of Charles Hertan Numismatics in Northampton. He said he believes this decision will have little to no effect on the coin-collecting hobby, as there are few rare or valuable pennies minted before 1920.

“I think it’s a good thing, because I think it was ridiculous to be minting new pennies,” he said. “The stuff is so common that it is never going to increase in value.”

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.