A Penny for Your Thoughts

Have you heard? Canada did away with their penny as of Monday, February 4^th, 2013.  What are your thoughts on our little one cent friend? Do you like having a penny? Would you be OK with the decision to eliminate the small, copper, Lincoln-silhouetted coin?

Just for fun, we’ve gathereed a few facts about the U.S. penny:

1.  The Average penny lasts 25 years.

2.  The penny was the first coin minted in the United States.

3.  There are 11 different designs of the penny.

4.  The Lincoln penny was originally minted in 1909, which was Lincoln's 100^th birthday.

5.  Lincoln is the only coin-featured president that faces the right – all others face the left.

6.  The penny was the first U.S. coin to have the “IN GOD WE TRUST” motto on it.

7.  Every year the United States Mint produces over 13 billion pennies.

8.  The U.S. Mint collects one cent for each penny made- this profit goes toward helping pay the public debt.

9.  In 2009, four new backsides to the penny were designed and released in honor of Lincoln’s 200^th Birthday.  Each design depicts a different scene from his life.

10.  The penny costs more to make than it’s actually worth, but is the most profitable coin.

11.  Melting down pennies from before 1982 (due to their valuable copper) is illegal and could cost you $10,000 in fines or five years in prison.

12.  Just over 1,000 new pennies are minted every second.

13.  “E Pluribus Unum” (engraved on pennies) means “One out of many”.

14.  The penny weighs 2.5 grams.

15.  The average American home has roughly $93.75 worth of pennies collected in jars, lost under sofa cushions, of forgotten in old purses and pockets.

Recent polls show that 73% of Americans favor keeping the penny in circulation, do you?  It sure got us thinking. . .