Latest news with #Coinstar
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump tells Treasury Department to stop making pennies. What's that mean for your pennies?
Learn to love your coins. That's the message from Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, the company behind those coin-cashing machines you see in supermarkets. American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all. President Donald Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their value. (Intriguingly, the same is true of nickels.) Many Americans regard both nickels and pennies as more nuisance than currency. The typical household is sitting on $60 to $90 in neglected coins, enough to fill one or two pint-size beer mugs, according to the Federal Reserve. Americans throw away millions of dollars in coins every year, literally treating them like trash. Why do we treat coins like trash? McColly thinks we should change the way we think about coins. To state the obvious, coins are worth money. Coinstar converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58 in buying power. Most of us don't realize how much our coins are worth. Thus, a trip to a coin-exchange kiosk (or a bank, or credit union) can yield a pleasant surprise. 'People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,' McColly said. 'It's a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.' Certain groups of Americans – lower-income households, and those over 55 – still use plenty of cash, the Fed found, along with people who prefer to shop in person. Coins aren't clutter, they're currency As for the rest of us, McColly thinks it is time for a paradigm shift. Don't think of your coins as clutter. Think of them as recyclables. 'They're metal,' he said, in case we needed a reminder. 'And they have a long and useful life.' The Treasury still mints more than 5 billion coins a year, although the figure is dropping, according to the journal CoinNews. 'Those are just natural resources coming out of the Earth,' McColly said: Copper-plated zinc for pennies, copper-nickel alloys for nickels, dimes and quarters. His point: If Americans got serious about gathering up their idle coins and 'recycling' them into the monetary system, the Mint wouldn't have to make so many new ones. Granted, McColly has a vested interest. His company collects a small cut of the coins that consumers deposit. 'You can go to your own bank or credit union and not pay any fee,' said Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert at NerdWallet. Both NerdWallet and Bankrate offer tip sheets on exchanging coins for cash. Most banks will take an account holder's coins for free, Bankrate reports, but not all, and you may need to roll the coins yourself. 'I think that a lot of people probably do have hidden coins stashed around their home, and it can be worth their time to go and collect them,' Palmer said. McColly notes that Coinstar generally waives its fee if the depositor chooses to trade in coins for a retail gift card, rather than cash. He is not alone in forecasting a future for the penny, the nickel, and their more profitable kin. 'We've been much slower than parts of Europe and Asia to adopt mobile payments and contactless credit cards,' said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate. The pandemic delivered a timely reminder of how much we still rely on cash: Consumers and business owners sat on their coins amid a global shutdown, seeding an actual coin shortage. 'It kind of froze the whole system,' Rossman said. While Trump has only instructed the Mint to stop making pennies, some voices have urged America to stop using them. The Common Cents Act, introduced on April 30 by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would round cash transactions to the nearest five cents. 'The penny is outdated and inefficient and no longer serves the needs of our economy,' said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat. But the bill could push the nation down a slippery slope. 'So, You Want to Get Rid of the Penny,' the New York Times mused in a recent headline. 'Do You Have a Plan for the Nickel?' As it turns out, nixing the penny creates new problems. If America rids itself of pennies, the Times reported, the nation will soon find itself flooded with nickels. The government loses nearly three cents on every penny it mints. On a nickel, it loses nearly nine cents. More nickels would mean steeper losses. America could kill both the penny and the nickel, the two money-losers on its roster of coins. But without pennies or nickels, how would a consumer pay a 15-cent tab? You could round every price to the nearest 10 cents, taking the Common Cents Act a step further. But then, what becomes of the quarter? And so on. Do you own an old penny worth as much as a million dollars? Experts say it's highly unlikely. You may have seen one of many headlines blasted online lately about valuable pennies in circulation, "Lincoln Wheat Penny Worth $124M You Could Have at Home" reads one, but the reality is most pennies are worth one cent or possibly a bit more. Reality does not meet the hype, according to one expert. "There are million-dollar pennies, but there are no $100 million pennies," said Donn Pearlman, spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), a nonprofit organization composed of many of the nation's rare coin experts. "Only a few Lincoln cents dated 1909 to 1958 with the wheat stalks design on the back ("wheat pennies") have sold for $1 million or more." The most valuable U.S. coin ever, a $20 gold piece, a 1933 "Double Eagle" coin, sold for $18.9 million at auction in 2021. The most valuable pennies, which are rare but possibly still in circulation, are 1943 copper Lincoln wheat pennies, a few of which were produced accidentally as the U.S. mints were supposed to use zinc to save copper for the World War II effort, said John Feigenbaum, publisher of rare coin price guide Greysheet. In rare cases, some 1943 pennies have sold for $1 million, while one went for more than $200,000 at an auction in 2019. Depending on their condition, those 1943 Lincoln wheat pennies would be worth at most between $100,000 and $250,000, Feigenbaum told USA TODAY. But the likelihood of having a near-priceless penny is similar to "saying your lottery ticket might be worth $100,000. Of course, anything is possible, right? But not likely," said Feigenbaum, who is also the PNG's executive director. So-called "wheat pennies" get their name from the back of the coin having stalks of wheat encircling the "One Cent" text. They were produced from 1909 to 1958. After that, the wheat stalks were shorn and pennies began displaying an engraving of the Lincoln Memorial. Most Lincoln wheat pennies are not super-valuable and are worth just a few cents more than one cent. However, some may escalate into the hundreds of dollars, depending on the condition and when minted. Certain vintages, especially with minting errors, may be worth thousands. You can see the NGC price guide here. But headlines about super-valuable "Lincoln wheat pennies" stretch the imagination. Most likely, the headlines are created by artificial intelligence to drive traffic to a website, Feigenbaum said. "These coins are improbably in people's change," he said. Still, all the online-stirred interest has resulted in "coin shops being inundated with these folks who believe they have something rare, but they don't," according to Feigenbaum. Increased interest in coins has led to overvalued coins being sold on eBay and Etsy, plus there are counterfeit Lincoln wheat pennies made in China being hawked. "If I've seen these coins ... somebody is every now and again being taken advantage of," Feigenbaum said. Even though the most valuable coins are usually in collections and have very publicly been "sold and resold," Feigenbaum said, sometimes people may inherit a cache of well-preserved coins or purchase some at an estate sale. Go get your coins graded. You can have your coins authenticated at their value, just as jewelry is, from several services, including CAC, Numismatic Guaranty Company, and Professional Coin Grading Service. Read up on your coins. While there are apps you can use to check on your coins, they aren't always accurate. But you can check the value of coins in "The 2026 Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins," available in book stores and online on and Barnes and Noble. "It answers all kinds of questions, like, 'Oh, if I'm thinking about collecting Lincoln cents, what can I expect to pay?" said Feigenbaum, one of the book's editors. "You'll see in that book there's no million-dollar cents." This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump tells Treasury to stop making pennies, citing production costs
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pennies are going away. Here's where to take your coin jar to cash them out in Florida
Have you checked your couch for change lately? Not as many people are using coins these days, and President Donald Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their value. Pennies will still be legal tender, but cash prices will soon be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel (which cost even more to produce relative to their value than pennies). There are about 114 billion pennies in circulation, according to the Federal Reserve. Many Americans may never notice the loss. American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all, and experts say the pandemic kicked cashless payments into high gear. We throw away millions of dollars in coins every year. Certain groups of Americans – lower-income households, and those over 55 – still use plenty of cash, the Fed found, along with people who prefer to shop in person. But many others let coins roll away, get lost in the dryer, or drop them unceremoniously into a coin jar, never to be thought of again. So, what should we be doing with our piles of change? The loose coins lying around your house and between your cushions are still money, and it adds up more than you'd think. The typical household is sitting on $60 to $90 in lost or neglected coins, enough to fill a couple of pint-size beer mugs or a medium-sized piggy bank, according to the Federal Reserve. Coinstar, those coin-cashing machines in supermarkets and Walmarts, converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58 in buying power. 'People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,' Coinstar CEO Kevin McColly said. 'It's a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.' Granted, McColly has a vested interest. His company takes a small cut of the coins that consumers deposit, generally up to 12.9% of the total and 99 cents per transaction, according to NerdWallet. There are over 20,000 Coinstar locations around the world and you can exchange coins for cash, e-gift cards, tax-deductible charity donations and cryptocurrency. There is no fee if you opt for the e-gift cards, though. Some regional stores also take in coins. Publix supermarkets have their own coin sorting machines that provide receipts to exchange for cash at the Customer Service counter. The fee runs about 9-10% of your total and only allows you to exchange for cash. If you want every bit of your cash value, try your bank. 'You can go to your own bank or credit union and not pay any fee,' said Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert at NerdWallet. However, Bankrate points out that some banks may charge a fee, and even the free ones may require you to roll the coins yourself. McColly says not to think of your coins as clutter. Think of them as recyclables. 'They're metal,' he said. 'And they have a long and useful life.' And if people gathered up their "idle" coins and recycled them back into the monetary system, we wouldn't have to make as many new ones. The Treasury still mints more than 5 billion coins a year, although the figure is dropping, according to the journal CoinNews. 'Those are just natural resources coming out of the Earth,' McColly said: Copper-plated zinc for pennies, copper-nickel alloys for nickels, dimes and quarters. Canada stopped minting pennies and even asked businesses to return them to financial institutions starting in 2012. The coins in circulation are still valid. Great Britain, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Norway, Finland and New Zealand are among nations that have either ceased to produce or have removed low-denomination coins, Reuters reported. 'We've been much slower than parts of Europe and Asia to adopt mobile payments and contactless credit cards,' said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate. The raw material prices of copper, nickel and zinc have risen in recent years, and the Mint has had to make more coins to cover the drop in inventory during the pandemic. The familiar copper-looking coin with Abraham Lincoln's profile on it runs about 3.7 cents to produce as of fiscal year 2024, according to the U.S. Mint's annual report. To make a nickel, it'll run you about 13.8 cents. Excited online headlines will blare "Lincoln Wheat Penny Worth $124M You Could Have at Home" at you, but don't believe the hype. The reality is most pennies are worth precisely one cent, or possibly a bit more. "There are million-dollar pennies, but there are no $100 million pennies," said Donn Pearlman, spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), a nonprofit organization composed of many of the nation's rare coin experts. The most valuable U.S. coin ever, a $20 gold piece, a 1933 "Double Eagle" coin, sold for $18.9 million at auction in 2021. "Only a few Lincoln cents dated 1909 to 1958 with the wheat stalks design on the back ("wheat pennies") have sold for $1 million or more," Pearlman said. After that, pennies began displaying an engraving of the Lincoln Memorial. The most valuable pennies, which are rare but possibly still in circulation, are 1943 copper Lincoln wheat pennies, a few of which were produced accidentally as the U.S. mints were supposed to use zinc to save copper for the World War II effort, according to John Feigenbaum, publisher of rare coin price guide Greysheet. Most Lincoln wheat pennies are worth just a few cents more than one cent. However, some may escalate into the hundreds of dollars, depending on the condition and when minted. Certain vintages, especially with minting errors, may be worth thousands. One went for more than $200,000 at an auction in 2019. You can see the NGC price guide here. Still, all the ads shoved into your online browsing — most likely created by artificial intelligence to drive traffic to a website— have resulted in "coin shops being inundated with these folks who believe they have something rare, but they don't," according to Feigenbaum, along with people getting scammed on eBay and Etsy and counterfeit coins coming in from China. "If I've seen these coins ... somebody is every now and again being taken advantage of," Feigenbaum said. Even though the most valuable coins are usually in collections and have very publicly been "sold and resold," Feigenbaum said, sometimes people may inherit a cache of well-preserved coins or purchase some at an estate sale. Read up on your coins. While there are apps you can use to check on your coins, they aren't always accurate. But you can check the value of coins in "The 2026 Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins," available in book stores and online on and Barnes and Noble. "It answers all kinds of questions, like, 'Oh, if I'm thinking about collecting Lincoln cents, what can I expect to pay?" said Feigenbaum, one of the book's editors. "You'll see in that book there's no million-dollar cents." Go get your coins graded. You can have your coins authenticated at their value, just as jewelry is, from several services, including CAC, Numismatic Guaranty Company, and Professional Coin Grading Service. Whatever you do, don't just let your coins gather dust. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: The penny is going away. Publix, Coinstar or your bank are options
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pennies are going away. Here's what to do with yours.
President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. Treasury to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their face value, which may leave Americans wondering what to do with coins they currently have. Even though the most valuable coins are usually in collections and have very publicly been "sold and resold," said John Feigenbaum, publisher of rare coin price guide Greysheet, sometimes people may inherit a cache of well-preserved coins or purchase some at an estate sale. Some of those coins may be pennies, or cents, and they may be unsure what to do with them. Here's a look at their usefulness, and value. Generally speaking, it's U.S. government policy that all designs of Federal Reserve notes remain legal tender, or legally valid for payments, regardless of when they were issued. This policy includes all denominations of Federal Reserve notes, from 1914 to present. The same applies to old coins. Old coins can be spent just like any other currency. In the U.S. for example, coins and banknotes issued by the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing retain their face value regardless of age. While some older coins may hold additional appeal to collectors due to their rarity or condition, they technically can still be used for their original intended purpose of transactions. People who have pennies that they think are valuable should: Read up on your coins. While there are apps you can use to check on your coins, they aren't always accurate. But you can check the value of coins in "The 2026 Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins," available in book stores and online on and Barnes and Noble. "It answers all kinds of questions, like, 'Oh, if I'm thinking about collecting Lincoln cents, what can I expect to pay?" said Feigenbaum, one of the book's editors. "You'll see in that book there's no million-dollar cents." Go get your coins graded. You can have your coins authenticated at their value, just as jewelry is, from several services, including CAC, Numismatic Guaranty Company, and Professional Coin Grading Service. American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all. The typical household is sitting on $60 to $90 in neglected coins, enough to fill one or two pint-size beer mugs, according to the Federal Reserve. Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, the company behind the coin-cashing machines you see in supermarkets, thinks we should change the way we think about coins; to state the obvious, coins are worth money, she said. Coinstar converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58. 'People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,' McColly said. 'It's a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.' Certain groups of Americans — lower-income households, and those over 55 — still use plenty of cash, the Fed found, along with people who prefer to shop in person. McColly thinks it is time for a paradigm shift. Don't think of your coins as clutter. Think of them as recyclables. 'They're metal,' he said, in case we needed a reminder. 'And they have a long and useful life.' The Treasury still mints more than 5 billion coins a year, although the figure is dropping, according to the journal CoinNews. 'Those are just natural resources coming out of the Earth,' McColly said: Copper-plated zinc for pennies, copper-nickel alloys for nickels, dimes and quarters. His point: If Americans got serious about gathering up their idle coins and 'recycling' them into the monetary system, the Mint wouldn't have to make so many new ones. Both NerdWallet and Bankrate offer tip sheets on exchanging coins for cash. Most banks will take an account holder's coins for free, Bankrate reports, but not all, and you may need to roll the coins yourself. While Trump has only instructed the Mint to stop making pennies, some voices have urged America to stop using them. The Common Cents Act, introduced on April 30 by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would round cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents. 'The penny is outdated and inefficient and no longer serves the needs of our economy,' said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat. But the bill could push the nation down a slippery slope. 'So, You Want to Get Rid of the Penny,' the New York Times mused in a recent headline. 'Do You Have a Plan for the Nickel?' As it turns out, nixing the penny creates new problems. If America rids itself of pennies, the Times reported, the nation will soon find itself flooded with nickels. The government loses nearly 3 cents on every penny it mints. On a nickel, it loses nearly 9 cents. More nickels would mean steeper losses. America could kill both the penny and the nickel, the two money-losers on its roster of coins. But without pennies or nickels, how would a consumer pay a 15-cent tab? Experts say it's highly unlikely. You may have seen one of many headlines blasted online lately about valuable pennies in circulation, "Lincoln Wheat Penny Worth $124M You Could Have at Home" reads one, but the reality is most pennies are worth one cent or possibly a bit more. Reality does not meet the hype, according to one expert. "There are million-dollar pennies, but there are no $100 million pennies," said Donn Pearlman, spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), a nonprofit organization composed of many of the nation's rare coin experts. "Only a few Lincoln cents dated 1909 to 1958 with the wheat stalks design on the back ("wheat pennies") have sold for $1 million or more." The most valuable U.S. coin ever, a $20 gold piece, a 1933 "Double Eagle" coin, sold for $18.9 million at auction in 2021. The most valuable pennies, which are rare but possibly still in circulation, are 1943 copper Lincoln wheat pennies, a few of which were produced accidentally as the U.S. mints were supposed to use zinc to save copper for the World War II effort, said Feigenbaum. In rare cases, some 1943 pennies have sold for $1 million, while one went for more than $200,000 at an auction in 2019. Depending on their condition, those 1943 Lincoln wheat pennies would be worth at most between $100,000 and $250,000, Feigenbaum told USA TODAY. But the likelihood of having a near-priceless penny is similar to "saying your lottery ticket might be worth $100,000. Of course, anything is possible, right? But not likely," said Feigenbaum, who is also the PNG's executive director. So-called "wheat pennies" get their name from the back of the coin having stalks of wheat encircling the "One Cent" text. They were produced from 1909 to 1958. After that, pennies began displaying an engraving of the Lincoln Memorial. Most Lincoln wheat pennies are not super-valuable and are worth just a few cents more than 1 cent. However, some may escalate into the hundreds of dollars, depending on the condition and when minted. Certain vintages, especially with minting errors, may be worth thousands. You can see the NGC price guide here. But headlines about super-valuable "Lincoln wheat pennies" stretch the imagination. Most likely, the headlines are created by artificial intelligence to drive traffic to a website, Feigenbaum said. "These coins are improbably in people's change," he said. Still, all the online-stirred interest has resulted in "coin shops being inundated with these folks who believe they have something rare, but they don't," according to Feigenbaum. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pennies are going away. Here's what to do with yours.
USA Today
27-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
US to stop producing pennies. What to do with your neglected coins, and how to tell if they're valuable
US to stop producing pennies. What to do with your neglected coins, and how to tell if they're valuable Show Caption Hide Caption Donald Trump tells Treasury Department to stop making pennies President Donald Trump told the Treasury Department to stop making pennies, citing production costs. Americans are holding an estimated $60-$90 in coins per household. While some rare pennies are valuable, most are worth only a few cents. Consumers can exchange coins for cash at banks, credit unions, or Coinstar kiosks. Learn to love your coins. That's the message from Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, the company behind those coin-cashing machines you see in supermarkets. American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all. President Donald Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their value. (Intriguingly, the same is true of nickels.) Many Americans regard both nickels and pennies as more nuisance than currency. The typical household is sitting on $60 to $90 in neglected coins, enough to fill one or two pint-size beer mugs, according to the Federal Reserve. Americans throw away millions of dollars in coins every year, literally treating them like trash. Why do we treat coins like trash? McColly thinks we should change the way we think about coins. To state the obvious, coins are worth money. Coinstar converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58 in buying power. Most of us don't realize how much our coins are worth. Thus, a trip to a coin-exchange kiosk (or a bank, or credit union) can yield a pleasant surprise. 'People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,' McColly said. 'It's a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.' Certain groups of Americans – lower-income households, and those over 55 – still use plenty of cash, the Fed found, along with people who prefer to shop in person. What's next for the penny? The details on US decision to end penny production Coins aren't clutter, they're currency As for the rest of us, McColly thinks it is time for a paradigm shift. Don't think of your coins as clutter. Think of them as recyclables. 'They're metal,' he said, in case we needed a reminder. 'And they have a long and useful life.' The Treasury still mints more than 5 billion coins a year, although the figure is dropping, according to the journal CoinNews. 'Those are just natural resources coming out of the Earth,' McColly said: Copper-plated zinc for pennies, copper-nickel alloys for nickels, dimes and quarters. His point: If Americans got serious about gathering up their idle coins and 'recycling' them into the monetary system, the Mint wouldn't have to make so many new ones. Granted, McColly has a vested interest. His company collects a small cut of the coins that consumers deposit. 'You can go to your own bank or credit union and not pay any fee,' said Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert at NerdWallet. Both NerdWallet and Bankrate offer tip sheets on exchanging coins for cash. Most banks will take an account holder's coins for free, Bankrate reports, but not all, and you may need to roll the coins yourself. 'I think that a lot of people probably do have hidden coins stashed around their home, and it can be worth their time to go and collect them,' Palmer said. McColly notes that Coinstar generally waives its fee if the depositor chooses to trade in coins for a retail gift card, rather than cash. He is not alone in forecasting a future for the penny, the nickel, and their more profitable kin. 'We've been much slower than parts of Europe and Asia to adopt mobile payments and contactless credit cards,' said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate. The pandemic delivered a timely reminder of how much we still rely on cash: Consumers and business owners sat on their coins amid a global shutdown, seeding an actual coin shortage. 'It kind of froze the whole system,' Rossman said. Retiring coins: Where does it end? While Trump has only instructed the Mint to stop making pennies, some voices have urged America to stop using them. The Common Cents Act, introduced on April 30 by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would round cash transactions to the nearest five cents. 'The penny is outdated and inefficient and no longer serves the needs of our economy,' said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat. But the bill could push the nation down a slippery slope. 'So, You Want to Get Rid of the Penny,' the New York Times mused in a recent headline. 'Do You Have a Plan for the Nickel?' As it turns out, nixing the penny creates new problems. If America rids itself of pennies, the Times reported, the nation will soon find itself flooded with nickels. The government loses nearly three cents on every penny it mints. On a nickel, it loses nearly nine cents. More nickels would mean steeper losses. America could kill both the penny and the nickel, the two money-losers on its roster of coins. But without pennies or nickels, how would a consumer pay a 15-cent tab? You could round every price to the nearest 10 cents, taking the Common Cents Act a step further. But then, what becomes of the quarter? And so on. Do you own an old penny worth as much as a million dollars? Experts say it's highly unlikely. You may have seen one of many headlines blasted online lately about valuable pennies in circulation, "Lincoln Wheat Penny Worth $124M You Could Have at Home" reads one, but the reality is most pennies are worth one cent or possibly a bit more. Reality does not meet the hype, according to one expert. "There are million-dollar pennies, but there are no $100 million pennies," said Donn Pearlman, spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), a nonprofit organization composed of many of the nation's rare coin experts. "Only a few Lincoln cents dated 1909 to 1958 with the wheat stalks design on the back ("wheat pennies") have sold for $1 million or more." The most valuable U.S. coin ever, a $20 gold piece, a 1933 "Double Eagle" coin, sold for $18.9 million at auction in 2021. The most valuable pennies, which are rare but possibly still in circulation, are 1943 copper Lincoln wheat pennies, a few of which were produced accidentally as the U.S. mints were supposed to use zinc to save copper for the World War II effort, said John Feigenbaum, publisher of rare coin price guide Greysheet. In rare cases, some 1943 pennies have sold for $1 million, while one went for more than $200,000 at an auction in 2019. Depending on their condition, those 1943 Lincoln wheat pennies would be worth at most between $100,000 and $250,000, Feigenbaum told USA TODAY. But the likelihood of having a near-priceless penny is similar to "saying your lottery ticket might be worth $100,000. Of course, anything is possible, right? But not likely," said Feigenbaum, who is also the PNG's executive director. What are wheat pennies worth? So-called "wheat pennies" get their name from the back of the coin having stalks of wheat encircling the "One Cent" text. They were produced from 1909 to 1958. After that, the wheat stalks were shorn and pennies began displaying an engraving of the Lincoln Memorial. Most Lincoln wheat pennies are not super-valuable and are worth just a few cents more than one cent. However, some may escalate into the hundreds of dollars, depending on the condition and when minted. Certain vintages, especially with minting errors, may be worth thousands. You can see the NGC price guide here. But headlines about super-valuable "Lincoln wheat pennies" stretch the imagination. Most likely, the headlines are created by artificial intelligence to drive traffic to a website, Feigenbaum said. "These coins are improbably in people's change," he said. Still, all the online-stirred interest has resulted in "coin shops being inundated with these folks who believe they have something rare, but they don't," according to Feigenbaum. Increased interest in coins has led to overvalued coins being sold on eBay and Etsy, plus there are counterfeit Lincoln wheat pennies made in China being hawked. "If I've seen these coins ... somebody is every now and again being taken advantage of," Feigenbaum said. What should I do if I have some pennies or other coins I think are valuable? Even though the most valuable coins are usually in collections and have very publicly been "sold and resold," Feigenbaum said, sometimes people may inherit a cache of well-preserved coins or purchase some at an estate sale. Mike Snider is a reporter on USA TODAY's Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider & msnider@
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With the penny going away, what should you do with the ones in your coin jar?
Learn to love your coins. That's the message from Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, the company behind those coin-cashing machines you see in supermarkets. American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all. President Donald Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their value. (Intriguingly, the same is true of nickels.) Many Americans regard both nickels and pennies as more nuisance than currency. The typical household is sitting on $60 to $90 in neglected coins, enough to fill one or two pint-size beer mugs, according to the Federal Reserve. Americans throw away millions of dollars in coins every year, literally treating them like trash. Why do we treat coins like trash? McColly thinks we should change the way we think about coins. To state the obvious, coins are worth money. Coinstar converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58 in buying power. Most of us don't realize how much our coins are worth. Thus, a trip to a coin-exchange kiosk (or a bank, or credit union) can yield a pleasant surprise. 'People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,' McColly said. 'It's a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.' Certain groups of Americans – lower-income households, and those over 55 – still use plenty of cash, the Fed found, along with people who prefer to shop in person. As for the rest of us, McColly thinks it is time for a paradigm shift. Don't think of your coins as clutter. Think of them as recyclables. 'They're metal,' he said, in case we needed a reminder. 'And they have a long and useful life.' The Treasury still mints more than 5 billion coins a year, although the figure is dropping, according to the journal CoinNews. 'Those are just natural resources coming out of the Earth,' McColly said: Copper-plated zinc for pennies, copper-nickel alloys for nickels, dimes and quarters. His point: If Americans got serious about gathering up their idle coins and 'recycling' them into the monetary system, the Mint wouldn't have to make so many new ones. Granted, McColly has a vested interest. His company collects a small cut of the coins that consumers deposit. 'You can go to your own bank or credit union and not pay any fee,' said Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert at NerdWallet. Both NerdWallet and Bankrate offer tip sheets on exchanging coins for cash. Most banks will take an account holder's coins for free, Bankrate reports, but not all, and you may need to roll the coins yourself. 'I think that a lot of people probably do have hidden coins stashed around their home, and it can be worth their time to go and collect them,' Palmer said. McColly notes that Coinstar generally waives its fee if the depositor chooses to trade in coins for a retail gift card, rather than cash. He is not alone in forecasting a future for the penny, the nickel, and their more profitable kin. 'We've been much slower than parts of Europe and Asia to adopt mobile payments and contactless credit cards,' said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate. The pandemic delivered a timely reminder of how much we still rely on cash: Consumers and business owners sat on their coins amid a global shutdown, seeding an actual coin shortage. 'It kind of froze the whole system,' Rossman said. While Trump has only instructed the Mint to stop making pennies, some voices have urged America to stop using them. The Common Cents Act, introduced on April 30 by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would round cash transactions to the nearest five cents. 'The penny is outdated and inefficient and no longer serves the needs of our economy,' said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat. But the bill could push the nation down a slippery slope. 'So, You Want to Get Rid of the Penny,' the New York Times mused in a recent headline. 'Do You Have a Plan for the Nickel?' As it turns out, nixing the penny creates new problems. If America rids itself of pennies, the Times reported, the nation will soon find itself flooded with nickels. The government loses nearly three cents on every penny it mints. On a nickel, it loses nearly nine cents. More nickels would mean steeper losses. America could kill both the penny and the nickel, the two money-losers on its roster of coins. But without pennies or nickels, how would a consumer pay a 15-cent tab? You could round every price to the nearest 10 cents, taking the Common Cents Act a step further. But then, what becomes of the quarter? And so on. Experts say it's highly unlikely. You may have seen one of many headlines blasted online lately about valuable pennies in circulation, "Lincoln Wheat Penny Worth $124M You Could Have at Home" reads one, but the reality is most pennies are worth one cent or possibly a bit more. Reality does not meet the hype, according to one expert. "There are million-dollar pennies, but there are no $100 million pennies," said Donn Pearlman, spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), a nonprofit organization composed of many of the nation's rare coin experts. "Only a few Lincoln cents dated 1909 to 1958 with the wheat stalks design on the back ("wheat pennies") have sold for $1 million or more." The most valuable U.S. coin ever, a $20 gold piece, a 1933 "Double Eagle" coin, sold for $18.9 million at auction in 2021. The most valuable pennies, which are rare but possibly still in circulation, are 1943 copper Lincoln wheat pennies, a few of which were produced accidentally as the U.S. mints were supposed to use zinc to save copper for the World War II effort, said John Feigenbaum, publisher of rare coin price guide Greysheet. In rare cases, some 1943 pennies have sold for $1 million, while one went for more than $200,000 at an auction in 2019. Depending on their condition, those 1943 Lincoln wheat pennies would be worth at most between $100,000 and $250,000, Feigenbaum told USA TODAY. But the likelihood of having a near-priceless penny is similar to "saying your lottery ticket might be worth $100,000. Of course, anything is possible, right? But not likely," said Feigenbaum, who is also the PNG's executive director. So-called "wheat pennies" get their name from the back of the coin having stalks of wheat encircling the "One Cent" text. They were produced from 1909 to 1958. After that, the wheat stalks were shorn and pennies began displaying an engraving of the Lincoln Memorial. Most Lincoln wheat pennies are not super-valuable and are worth just a few cents more than one cent. However, some may escalate into the hundreds of dollars, depending on the condition and when minted. Certain vintages, especially with minting errors, may be worth thousands. You can see the NGC price guide here. But headlines about super-valuable "Lincoln wheat pennies" stretch the imagination. Most likely, the headlines are created by artificial intelligence to drive traffic to a website, Feigenbaum said. "These coins are improbably in people's change," he said. Still, all the online-stirred interest has resulted in "coin shops being inundated with these folks who believe they have something rare, but they don't," according to Feigenbaum. Increased interest in coins has led to overvalued coins being sold on eBay and Etsy, plus there are counterfeit Lincoln wheat pennies made in China being hawked. "If I've seen these coins ... somebody is every now and again being taken advantage of," Feigenbaum said. Even though the most valuable coins are usually in collections and have very publicly been "sold and resold," Feigenbaum said, sometimes people may inherit a cache of well-preserved coins or purchase some at an estate sale. Read up on your coins. While there are apps you can use to check on your coins, they aren't always accurate. But you can check the value of coins in "The 2026 Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins," available in book stores and online on and Barnes and Noble. "It answers all kinds of questions, like, 'Oh, if I'm thinking about collecting Lincoln cents, what can I expect to pay?" said Feigenbaum, one of the book's editors. "You'll see in that book there's no million-dollar cents." Go get your coins graded. You can have your coins authenticated at their value, just as jewelry is, from several services, including CAC, Numismatic Guaranty Company, and Professional Coin Grading Service. Mike Snider is a reporter on USA TODAY's Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider & msnider@ This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: With the penny going away how to know if you have one that's valuable
