[JCM9]

This is all a bit hyperbolic. Stopping minting pennies made sense and has precedent. There used to be half penny coins.

Also, pennies are still legal tender. Folks can take them to a bank or other venue and cash them in. They’re not “trash.”

[jldugger]

> Folks can take them to a bank

FWIW my bank refuses to accept unrolled coins, long before this month's retirement of the penny.

[analog31]

One of the reasons why I changed banks. My new bank has a coin counting machine in the lobby, you throw your coins in, it consumes them, and gives you a slip that you take to the teller.

As I understand it, coins are considered a government service. Banks and retailers pay to deal with them. Buying them from the public for face value actually saves them money.

[pengaru]

It's odd how banks have largely stopped operating change counting machines.

In my childhood we'd hoard loose change then make a trip to the local po-dunk bank serving my neighborhood surrounded by corn fields, and even there they'd take our bucket of loose change and dump it into a counting machine for free.

It was a game to try guess the amount we'd get in paper cash...

Now you have to pay for this service at a grocery store using a cumbersome machine operated by Coinstar.

[JCM9]

A lot of banks just have one of those coin counting machine things (like Coinstar but not Coinstar).

Coinstar also often has zero commission options like gift cards that are an easy way to cash in extra change without paying fees.

[tocs3]

I have talked to my bank and was told not to roll them, they just throw them in a machine to count them and deposit the money in my count. It is not uncommon to see people bring in a box of coins and the bank takes care of them.

[csdreamer7]

> FWIW my bank refuses to accept unrolled coins, long before this month's retirement of the penny.

My (edit: old) bank refused to accept unrolled coins back in the early 2000s.

[bigfishrunning]

So roll them?

[citrin_ru]

Coin counting machines exist for decades (and I hope still produced), why not all banks have them?

[leoh]

Is that legal?

[spott]

I think when the half penny was discontinued it had the same buying power as the dime does now or something like that.

So this is long overdue.

[brnt]

> They’re not “trash.”

I live in the Eurozone. We had 1 and 2 cent coins for a while. Where I live these were quickly deprecated and I think in most other Eurozone countries too by now.

I have thrown any of these coins straight in the bin soon as somebody gave them. Too much hassle and requires too big a wallet to drag along, for literally pennies.

When I first realized dealing with coins was inversely proportional to their denomination I threw out less than a Euros worth.

I do not understand anyone who doesn't throw out their pennies.

[mint5]

Throwing out cent coins doesn’t seem like an environmental waste to you, like throwing out aluminum cans?

Yes they’re impractical to carry and use but does anyone actually do that? Why not do the standard practice of accumulate them in a jar instead of throwing them in the trash like waste?

it’s easy to take them home and throw them in a jar until suddenly the jar is a Kg of metal that can be fed to whatever coinstar like machine is around.

[Symbiote]

At least leave them on the counter, drop them in a charity box, or leave them somewhere else where someone will pick them up.

[throwawayffffas]

I stored some 1 and 2 cent coins in 2005 betting they will become collectible in a few decades.

[DerekL]

*precedent

[JCM9]

Thanks and fixed. Darn autocorrect.