A lot of people consider pennies to be annoying, so they understand why the United States Treasury is discontinuing them, but will people feel the same about the nickel if it's discontinued too?
Getting rid of the nickel would make sense: USA Today recently pointed out that it costs more than 13 cents to make a "five-cent" nickel, just as it takes more than 7 cents to make a penny, so few people can argue with the efficiency of getting rid of them.
"I think most of us like the convenience and the anonymity of currency, and making change will really become difficult if we get rid of the nickel," notes Alicorn Investment Management President Bill Dendy.
"There is a group that says we should get rid of all physical currency, let's make it all digital, and that could happen in our lifetimes, but I think there'll be a lot of resistance to such a digital currency."
The introduction of digital currency, sometimes referred to as Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), was the stuff of conspiracy theories until nations like China, Nigeria, India and Brazil started exploring, piloting or developing similar currencies to be overseen by Central Banks.
A few people say CBDCs may be coming sooner than many think because they would allow governments to digitally monitor transactions, eventually eliminating "underground economies" such as the illicit drug or human trafficking trades.
But there's one often-unnoticed aspect of getting rid of pennies and nickels in our cash society: the process of "rounding up."
Merchants will usually round the cost of items up to the next half-dollar or dollar, usually in favor of the merchant, costing the customer anywhere from about 10 cents to about 70 cents. That's why consumers are advised to bargain with merchants when there are no pennies around -- if the merchant wants to round a $6.60 purchase up to $7.00, ask the merchant if they'll round it DOWN to $6.50 and give you the two extra quarters.
If repeated often, haggling with the merchant can save many dollars over the period of a year or two -- it's either that or lose serious money in the long run allowing merchants to keep rounding UP purchase prices.
So now that we've lost the penny, which is no longer manufactured after 2026, and if we lose the old-fashioned nickel, the good news is the government makes a profit on both the dime and the quarter.