2017 Cents to Have "P" Mint Mark

[GrumpyEd]

Huh! That's the government wasting their time on something with no purpose. It worked for over 100 years without it so why add it now. It seems silly to me.

[GrumpyEd]

I wish they would put a big, fat *** "P" right across the shield.

They can use the dies from the mint set tokens instead of the shield, it's the right size and everything.

[jfines69]

Just something more to be doubled So if some one finds a no P 2017 it is worth a bit What I find funny is that the guy stated they did not release the info just to see how long it would take for some one to report it... I thought mint employees had no sense of humor

[willy13]

I am curious, could they legally discontinue the cent without telling the public?

[VAB2013]

I don't think so. The merchants would have to know to make adjustments to their pricing and SKU's to adjust for nickel change. Not sure how Canada just did it, but I bet it was a nightmare.

[Frank]

Not to mention the bazillions of vending machines!

[enamel7]

I am curious, could they legally discontinue the cent without telling the public?

No. It takes an act of Congress to change anything money wise. That includes design changes.

[GrumpyEd]

I am curious, could they legally discontinue the cent without telling the public?

I'm sure they would tell the public but the public doesn't need to agree if congress does it.

As much as I like cents, they're sort of irrelevant. Younger people don't pick them up, I find them almost every time I walk.
In perspective, in the 1790s when the US first made coins they went down to half cents. With inflation that's probably like a half dollar or more. They didn't ever use millicents (other than tax tokens). Back then a handful of cents could buy something but today it won't do much.

Imagine if for one week you had to shop using only cents. It would take a few bricks to buy groceries, an appliance would take a trunk full. Imagine paying for even a grocery trip, handing the clerk $65.37 in cents, they'd be counting them for an hour. Just imagine going through the drive thru and buying a couple burgers and handing them 1259 cents for $12.59, they'd probably call the cops.

They cost much more than a cent to make, their accounting of just over a cent isn't realistic. There is no way they really can make them for less than a few cents or more if they include the mint buildings, employee healthcare and retirement and pay or the congress time spent deciding if it needs a P or not. They justify stuff with accounting that would never work for a non government outfit, if they had cents made by a normal company with real accounting I bet they cost more.

[VAB2013]

That is true GrumpyEd, but thinking about abolishing the Lincoln cent is sad I don't even care if it raises the value of our finds, what would we do for fun??

[onecent1909]

I am curious, could they legally discontinue the cent without telling the public?

No. It takes an act of Congress to change anything money wise. That includes design changes.

I think the question is Can they discontinue the cent.
answer is .... Yes they could stop making the cent because they have enough in circulation at this time.
1815 cent: no copper planchettes
1933 quarters
1922,1932,1933 dimes
ETC
every denomination has had a stoppage at some time
The mint can stop production if they do not need the coin.
Discontinuing it forever?
I would think they would let people know.
stopping for years (SBA 1981 to 1999)
Yea it could happen