Most of us have questioned the need for the penny — and not quietly. At this point, finding one feels less like luck and more like spotting a triple-yolk egg: technically possible, but are we sure it’s worth the excitement?
We now know it costs more than a cent to make a penny, which feels like the financial equivalent of paying $5 for a $1 bill. So, aside from the old “Find a penny, pick it up…” jingle — which, let’s be honest, hasn’t improved anyone’s luck since 1987 — there’s really no reason to bend over for one. If anything, we’re just preparing ourselves for a future where everything that costs $9.95 magically becomes $10.
My own introduction to this harsh economic reality came early. As a kid, I proudly approached a vending machine with a fistful of pennies, ready to make a life-changing investment in sugar. The machine rejected me. Repeatedly. I wasn’t happy. The vending machine operator, somewhere out there, probably still isn’t either.
The nickel, though — now there’s a coin with some dignity. Solid. Dependable. No ridges. No nonsense. It’s the cargo shorts of currency: practical, underrated and easy to find without looking. And yet, like the penny, it is drifting into irrelevance. “Nickel candy” is now a historical phrase, like “rewind the tape” or “be kind, please rewind.”
Then there’s the dime — tiny, slippery and apparently committed to disappearing at the worst possible moments. It is the only coin that can vanish while you’re actively holding it. As a teenager in the 1980s, my friends and I discovered an important social truth: If you ask someone for a dime, they will just give it to you. No questions. No paperwork. No Venmo request. Ask for a quarter, though, and suddenly it is a loan negotiation. Try that experiment today, and you’ll hit a bigger problem: No one has cash, let alone a dime. The evolution from dime stores to dollar stores tells you everything you need to know about inflation — and optimism.
And then we have the quarter. A big jump, both in value and confidence. Why 25 cents? Why not 15? Or 20? At some point, someone just said, “Let’s make it a quarter,” and everyone else nodded like it made perfect sense.
The quarter also doubles as entertainment. My friends and I once turned it into a game: Trace a circle around a quarter on paper, and then challenge people to roll the coin off their nose and land it inside the lines. What they don’t realize is they are also drawing a lovely graphite racing stripe down their face. It’s a game of skill, deception and mild embarrassment. And, yes, the ridges matter. This is not a job for the smooth, overconfident nickel.
So, sure, pocket change may not buy much anymore, but it can still teach life lessons, start strange experiments and, occasionally, decorate your face.
Try getting that from a credit card.
Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital newsletter
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707