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Remember those glass globes full of candy-coated chewing gum? They were all over town. The one I remember most was in Rothman Garage. You’d put a penny in the slot, push the lever to its stop and a ball of color would clank down the chute. Before cracking that candy coating with your molars, you’d read “Ford” on the surface. Never did it say “Dodge” or “Chevy” or “Hudson”. I’m still puzzled by that. I think these machines were placed by, and provided some funding for, the Lions Club.
At the school cafeteria, they sold half-pints of milk for three cents, wasn’t it? Mr. Lunceford sorted through the pennies to find rare ones for his collection.
And a penny would also buy you 12 minutes of legal parking along Sheridan, Chapman, and the downtown avenues that connected those business streets.
But when was the last time you bought anything with a penny?
Back to that in a second.
Last month our polarized nation went to the polls and split the votes nearly evenly between the competing candidates of many offices. The Ely area vote was pretty close to 50-50 as was the St Louis County vote and the State of Minnesota vote. And of course, the U.S. vote. We voters are rather split into two groups who are about evenly divided between two points of view no matter what the issue being discussed.
Well here’s an idea that people on both ends of the political spectrum might agree on: the uselessness of the penny in our economy. When was the last time you used a penny to buy anything? The only purpose of a penny today is to determine the tread depth of the tires on your pickup. (The Lincoln head test.)
In fact, when did you last use any coins to buy anything? I recently asked my Facebook friends what percent of their annual spending was settled with cash. The answers ranged from zero to a few percent. With direct payments, credit cards, debit cards, checks, and electronic fund transfers, cash is hardly used today.
And the penny is nearly worthless. And yet the U.S. Mint continues to strike them. In 2021, they made and distributed 15 billion of them. That’s nearly 50 per American. Do you handle fifty new pennies every year? How many in total including older ones? The Mint spends 3.07 cents of our money to create each penny -- not to mention the cost of distributing them to begin their circulation.
Once in circulation I don’t know how much circulating really they do. I rarely use coins. The few I find around, I put in a jar on my desk. Each year on my birthday I buy an Almond Joy with this accumulated wealth. More often the coins spill out of my jeans pockets into the dryer and clang menacingly in the tumbling heat therein.
Maybe as a first, small step toward bi-partisanism, the new nearly 50-50 Congress can agree on eliminating these worthless relics and accomplish a victory for practicality. Who knows what that could lead to. They might even begin to act --- naw, don’t get overly optimistic, Doug.
But in case they take this weary and jaded writer’s advice and pass such a bill, I have a suggestion for a change that may be a little more impactful, Undoubtedly it would be more controversial. And we know how much Congress and the media like controversy. How about we move Thanksgiving from late November to late October? There are some good reasons why this would make sense. I might make a case for that re-scheduling in a later column.
But right now I’d settle for a penny for your thoughts.
Doug Luthanen grew up in Ely and graduated from Memorial High School in 1967. He wrote a weekly viewpoint column for the Northwest Arkansas Times for four years and is an occasional contributor to The Ely Echo.
