Common Cents

When I first noticed Instagram posts using pennies for flooring (to create a “chic copper-look),” the writing was on the wall. Or in this case, the floor. I knew what was coming: the penny was doomed. 

All hail this coin of little distinction. Here’s my two cents, for what it’s worth.

(Apparently not much these days.)

We have to admit, everything changes. Even change. The penny now goes the way of other coinage out of circulation. Still, it’s had a good production run, 232 years is quite impressive. The three-cent nickel lasted only 24 years. The 20-cent piece? It was minted for just two years. Let’s face it, change is hard.

If you’re of a certain age, pennies were once a commodity to save. Nothing to scoff at or throw into a jar to never look at again. We counted them out at store checkouts to buy candy. We rolled them into paper tubes to exchange for dollar bills.

And if you’re like me, you often had to scrounge in your mother’s purse for a few cents to pay for milk at school. I’d often wonder if the task was worth the calcium. Sure you might find the coins, but only after sorting through loose tissues, cigarettes and linty lozenges. Truth is I felt sad at the scarcity inside her pocketbook. Even as a kid I wished I could’ve filled my mom’s leatherette purse with a bucket-load of coins. I was probably hopeful abundance was a feeling that could be passed down.

Certainly, if nothing else, the penny’s demise will bring the clarity of cost. No longer ubiquitous price tags that end in 99 cents. What a relief! This marketing baloney has been coined “charm pricing,” though I suggest a more accurate name would be “alarm pricing,” i.e. it costs more than you think. I mean we all know that a $9.99 price is essentially $10, but evidently our brain focuses on the leftmost digit. So the price is perceived as closer to nine than 10, even though we know better.

I am the dumb-dumb this works on. A fact my sister likes to remind me when we’re shopping. I’ll pronounce a shirt a total bargain at $24! She’ll look at the tag and, as only a sister can, correct me. “Carole, it’s $25.” To which I reply, as only a younger sister can, “That’s what I said!”

Consider the loss of this cent. No more penny for your thoughts. They’ll cost more now. Perhaps it’s a signal we should keep more of them to ourselves.

Pinching pennies won’t save enough to shop at the dollar store. And what will replace the idiom “pennies from heaven?” I hope dimes. Being clocked by nickels or quarters would be a heck of a way to receive unexpected good fortune. Although I’d guess we’d all take it anyway we can get it.

These days, long before the penny’s obituary, whenever I found one, I’d place it more obviously for someone else to find. Even though the adage, “Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck” echoed in my ear, I liked passing it on, believing that is good luck as well. 

Alas, the penny’s good luck has run out. What shall we do? I’d say look for nickels but I don’t often see them lying around. But, in my experience, dimes seem to be on the loose. Maybe we all should leave the found dime to another in some measure of good fortune. We could interiorly incant, “Find a dime, don’t pick it up, leave it for another schmuck.”

I know, it’s not as singsongy-lovely as the original. But the way things are going nowadays, let’s pool our resources, especially our good luck. That would be worth a pretty penny.