It probably won’t create much of a stir, but the U.S. Mint is producing its final batch of pennies this week, three months after President Trump ordered the U.S. Treasury to stop making the coin.

Stopping cents makes sense. At 3.07 cents per penny, it costs more than three times as much to mint the coin as its value.

It’s probably the only thing Trump has done that I agree with or, at least, don’t suspect of having ulterior motives.

Stopping the minting is easy enough, getting the penny out of circulation entirely will be a much longer process. Merchants will round any total that ends in pennies to the nearest nickel, but you could still pay for an item costing, say, a dollar and change with a bill and the requisite number of pennies. You will be allowed to do that, but it’s not advisable if someone is behind you in the checkout lane. The penny will remain legal tender. There are an estimated 250 billion pennies in circulation. That’s $7 in pennies for every person in the U.S.

At some point, though, the only people who will deal in pennies will be coin collectors.

That means you’ll be stuck with whatever pennies you have – commingled with the crumbs, dustballs and hair beneath your sofa cushions, stuck to the bottom of the drink holder in your car, scattered among the paper clips, screws, rubber bands and other neglected odds-and-ends in your junk drawer.

Even as the production of pennies ends, I’m having a difficult time remembering when it was that I last actually used a penny in paying for something. A year, maybe? Five years? I have no idea.

That is not to say pennies have no uses beyond currency.

Old-timers will remember putting a penny in a burned-out fuse to prolong its function, but there are also contemporary uses for pennies, especially those minted before 1982, which had a higher copper content.

Consider these uses:

• Gardeners use pennies to drive away slugs, The copper content of a penny keeps cut flowers fresh longer.

• A few pennies combined with vinegar scours pans,

• A penny glued to the bottom of a chair or table leg can fix a wobble.

• A sack of pennies in a sock and left in the freezer is a good pain reliever for bruises.

• Pennies tucked into the bottom hem of curtains help straighten out wrinkles.

• Pennies in a Ziplock bag of water, hung on porches, drive away houseflies.

• Slot a penny in between the ribs of the car tire with Lincoln’s head upside-down. The tire needs to be replaced if you can see any portion of Abe’s head above the tread.

• Kids still put pennies on railroad tracks and watch trains flatten them.

There are likely to be other uses for pennies, too.

What will fade into obscurity are many references to pennies in the American lexicon.

In 20 years, will you ever hear someone say, “A penny for your thoughts?” Ben Franklin’s “a penny saved is a penny earned” will no longer resonate as an encouragement for frugality. “Pennies from heaven?” What’s that? Nobody will insist on adding their “two-cents worth.” Expensive goods or services will not cost a “pretty penny.” Perhaps, shoe manufacturers will retool to produce “nickel loafers.” A poor quality of  something will no longer be considered “penny ante.”

I suppose nickels are feeling pretty smug and self-important now. The penny’s demise is the nickel’s ascendancy.

I wouldn’t get too cocky, Mr. Jefferson coin. A nickel now costs 11 cents to mint.

Your days may be numbered and you’ll not be worth a plug nickel.

Dime Time cometh.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

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