Running out of pennies?

 

Prime number: Zero pennies

Illustration: Nick Iluzada

The anti-penny crusaders have won, but at what cost? The lowly copper-plated coin is disappearing from use—and it’s causing some headaches for US businesses. A number of merchants across the country have completely run out of pennies after the US government stopped making them earlier this year and failed to issue new guidance, the Associated Press reported: Sheetz, the convenience store chain that Western Pennsylvanians swear is better than Wawa, ran a promotion offering customers a soda if they brought in 100 pennies. Kwik Trip is rounding every cash transaction down to the nearest nickel, which will reportedly cost the company $3 million this year. The Treasury Department says the US will save about $56 million by no longer minting Abe Lincoln’s face, per the AP. Businesses are generally on board with the decision but want more clarity on how to proceed. “We have been advocating abolition of the penny for 30 years,” a spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores told the AP. “But this is not the way we wanted it to go.”