If pennies stop circulating, could Utahns cash in — What you should know

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — “Make Sense, Not Cents.” That’s the name of a bipartisan bill proposed by Senator Mike Lee to have the U.S. Mint stop producing pennies.

The reason? According to the U.S. Mint, it costs 3.69 cents per penny to produce. In a statement Sen. Lee said in part, “No private business would produce something at a 4x loss. It’s time to stop wasting Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars making overpriced pennies.”

If this passes and the penny is no longer produced, don’t start hoarding old copper Abe Lincolns. Experts at All About Coins in Salt Lake City tell ABC4.com they don’t foresee a spike in their value.

Store clerk Casey Hackford-Peer explained, “I don’t think that we’re ever going to see a day where like a 2024 penny is going to be worth so much more. Maybe in 200, 300 years, but not in my lifetime.”

That’s bad news for people hoping to cash in. However, many people collect pennies for fun. Hackford-Peer says they get tons of pennies through their store. “Maybe ten times a day we have people come in with pennies. Anything from error pennies to like just wheat cents to Indian Head cents. Even like the older, like large cents.”

Not all pennies are chump change though. Some rare finds can be worth some serious coin. For example, Hackford-Peer tells us a 1909 S “VDB” cent can be worth hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. It’s a penny that still had the artist’s initials minted on it.

Worth even more, an error penny from 1943 that’s worth upwards of $750,000. During the war, copper was needed for the war effort, and so pennies were meant to be made with a zinc round covered in steel. However, there were some made with copper by mistake, and they are a rare find nowadays.

Will people miss the penny? We took to streets to find out:

When was the last time you used a penny?

Should they get rid of the penny?

In the proposed bill, the penny would still have value and be used to purchase things.