Link: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1,1249,100002228,00.html

MISSOURI CITY MERCHANTS CALLING FOR SPARE PENNIES

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - Break open those piggy banks and check under the couch cushions: In Cape Girardeau, merchants are running out of pennies. The problem has gotten so bad that Schnuck Markets have put up signs asking people to pay in exact change so clerks don't have to fish around for pennies. And the local Mercantile Bank is paying a 10 percent premium to people who bring in pennies in exchange for other coins or currency. Mercantile Bank President Lowell Peterson said officials with the Federal Reserve in St. Louis told him his bank wouldn't receive any more pennies until June 1 when a new shipment is expected from the U.S. Mint.

-- DMH (not@this.time), June 03, 1999

Answers

I can see it now. The death of the penny. If you want to pay to the nearest cent you will have to use an ATM or Credit Card. Otherwise it will be rounded UP to the nearest nickel.........

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), June 03, 1999.

Make that the nearest dollar! Change is history!!!

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), June 03, 1999.

Never read an AP story that started a sentence with the word "And". Doodum, doodum doodum.

-- Carlos (riffraff1@cybertime.net), June 03, 1999.

I wonder how long nickels are going to last. 75% nickle 25% copper and they weigh 5 grams the exact same composition as when they were originally made in 1866. Kind of interesting huh? Want to hear more? The only time the nickles' content was changed was for two years during World War 11 when the nickle content was changed for silver.

-- Greg (brothergregory@hotmail.com), June 03, 1999.

Interesting that merchants are trying to shift the responsibility to the customers. Instead, they should be rounding all of their transactions down to the nearest nickel. Would kinda solve the problem eh?

-- David (David@BankPacman.com), June 03, 1999.

If the bank I have a checking account at didn't charge a 5% fee to count coin for deposit, they could have every coin I've got...pennies included. I've been to a neighbor's house that has a 5 gal. Ozark water bottle (used as a door stop) half full of coin because the local banks don't want to fool around with having to count it.

Bankers aren't always the brightest of the bunch.

-- Mike T. (anita_martini@hotmail.com), June 03, 1999.

Penny shortages have occurred before. I don't remember the year, but copper prices soared and pennies became scarce. We raided our piggy banks and sold our pennies to the bank for slightly more than they were worth.

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), June 03, 1999.

Saw a piece the other day about a guy who has invented a coin counting machine...people pour the whole batch in ....it sorts, counts, and spits out dollar bills. Sort of like an ATM. There are a few already in action.

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), June 04, 1999.

The Midwest penny shortage goes back to at least May 17th...

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000qJj

"Pennies in Missouri"

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 04, 1999.