A Penny for Your Thoughts
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (108611)
United States
October 3, 2025 8:52am CST
Did you know that it is estimated that there are 240 billion pennies "out of circulation," sitting in jars, between seat cushions, in car consoles or in other places? That's right. 240 billion pennies.
Did you also know that it is probable that the U.S. Mint will discontinue penny production in 2026 due to the high cost of producing them?
Also, true.
Consider this: The U.S. mints roughly 5 billion new pennies a year, although the lifetime average is around 3 billion. If all of those 240 billion pennies could be put back into circulation, that would be enough pennies to supply the need for the next 40 years without producing a single new penny.
So, what's in your jar or lying around? If we all spent a few of them and put them back into circulation, do you think this might help keep the penny around a little longer? Would it forego the need to produce new ones, or could we continue production and just produce less?
A penny for your thoughts.
10 people like this
9 responses
@porwest (108611)
• United States
3 Oct
That is why they are considering it very seriously here too. But the fact remains, that if you have 240 billion pennies already minted, why would you need to mint more? Just find a way to get them out of jars and back into circulation and you won't need to make new ones for 40 years. I have proposed a penny buyback program that would cut the cost of pennies by more than half, and it would be a onetime cost that would pay for itself for four decades.
2 people like this
@porwest (108611)
• United States
3 Oct
@LadyDuck If people were offered 1.5 cents per penny, they might empty their jars, and the cost to the government would practically be nothing considering the current cost of producing pennies is about 4 cents each. If the government bought back HALF of the supply, it would cost around $1.8 billion on a onetime charge and save the country $3 billion over 20 years.
1 person likes this
@porwest (108611)
• United States
5 Oct
@JudyEv Well, legal tender just means according to the government that issued it, it is a promise that it will be legal to use it as tender in exchange for goods and services. It is part of what makes money "legitimate" when it is issued, in that the government makes a promise to the bearer that whatever currency they hold will always be good and honored as legal tender.
If you suddenly say some money is no longer "valid," it would make people less confident about their money and their currency because ultimately...
A promise was broken and the government invalidated your assets they provided to you to use.
In the case of discontinuing pennies and making any that you have unspendable, the government would literally leave you "penniless." 
1 person likes this
@porwest (108611)
• United States
3 Oct
I just know that the penny costs about 4 cents each to make. With so many pennies already available, just held, the government could buy back the pennies at 1.5 cents and save 3.5 cents each, and would not have to mint new ones for 40 years which would offer a massive savings as well as allow us to continue to use the penny for many more decades to come.
Even if they recouped HALF, the cost of the buyback would be a onetime cost of $1.8 billion with a cost savings of $3 billion.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (79184)
• United States
3 Oct
I have a lot of “wheat pennies” at home, but that’s about it.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (86431)
• United States
3 Oct
I rarely pay with cash these days so I don't have coins in my purse. I do have a jar of coins but most of the quarters I gave to my grandson for the washing machines in his college dorm.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (86431)
• United States
4 Oct
@porwest my coin jar isn't nearly as full as it used to be. My goal was always to put all my loose change in the jar and that would be my slush fund but these days I don't use cash much so my coin jar is sad looking.
1 person likes this
@porwest (108611)
• United States
5 Oct
@Marilynda1225 I currently have about $170 in my "silver" coin jar, and I regularly empty it out and put the money into my investments. I have no idea what I have in my penny jars. For whatever it is worth, those are a bit "out of sight, out of mind."
I never use ANY savings for spending. I prefer to invest it and spend the proceeds. Doing it this way, my money basically now earns all the income I need, and technically, unless I wanted to, I would have no need to earn a single penny more from "new" income on the front end.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (202400)
• United States
4 Oct
I have a lot of coins that hubby saved to be put into wrappers and turned in. If everyone turned in their change, there would be a glut.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (125832)
• Gainesville, Florida
3 Oct
I admit, I have a jar of pennies in my house. Whenever the jar gets filled with loose change, I take it down to my bank and put it in the coin counter machine and then deposit the funds in my savings account.
And in addition to all the other places you mentioned where out of circulation pennies are, we can also include business parking lots. That's where I find the majority of loose change, just laying on the ground in parking lots.
@lovebuglena (47762)
• Staten Island, New York
1h
What do we do with the pennies we have in our piggy bank or those coin wrappers?
@dgobucks226 (36993)
•
1h
I have a jar of coins in the house with pennies included. I'll have to do my part. At some point I'm hoping to die penniless. 
