Yesterday I made a purchase at Arby’s and for the first time my total was rounded. That is to say the total was $5.79 but I was charged $5.75. I was surprised they rounded that down and not up. That was, of course, due to a national penny shortage according to their sign. Later in the day I was talking with a store clerk that is a friend of mine and he said the bank hasn’t given him pennies in a few months. He told me of some places that don’t even accept pennies anymore! Well, I don’t know about that, but they are still legal tender and refusing them would be illegal.

Personally I feel like it only made sense, why spend more to produce a coin than the coin is actually worth. I do see a movement away from cash of any kind, perhaps in the future that will be the case. That’s a bit worrisome though, as when the government controls all your cash, they also control you! I don’t believe I’ll be around to see that happen though, maybe my great grandchildren’s children will. I still have a checkbook but haven’t written a check in a very long time. I guess it is still valid, I haven’t asked my bank about that. I do know some places no longer accept a personal check for payment.

So I was thinking about the penny thing. Although no new pennies are being minted the federal reserve continues to recirculate the nearly 114 billion pennies currently in use. Banks can not order “new” pennies. I wonder if the federal reserve isn’t collecting and holding those pennies, how will they get out of circulation at all? You will need at least five of them in order to spend them. That is going to be the case once everyone starts the “rounding” thing. I haven’t heard when that would become mandatory. Currently each state is free to implement their own policy regarding that. They can require all cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest nickel.

One more thought about the whole penny thing. When I was young I would often hear about “pennies from heaven” and the good fortune they might bring. I knew about a movies, Pennies from Heaven, but I don’t think I have ever watched it. I was told that pennies from heaven were left there by your loved ones. They could bring you good luck, were a sign from above that your loved ones were safe and happy. A penny on heads was to picked up and saved. A penny on tails should be picked up and thrown over your left shoulder. That’s the only way to guard against bad things happening to you. Will that change to nickels? And what happens when we go cashless? Gift cards from heaven? Oh, before that happens will it be a nickel for your thoughts? Has the price gone up? You can’t put your two cents in anymore.