The United States Treasury Department has ended the production of the penny, bringing its 230-year run to an end.
“I think it's kind of overdue because really, pennies haven't been useful for a long time," said shopper Valerie Ruma. "I always tell people, keep the pennies.”
This means new pennies will not be produced. However, the one cent will not cease to exist. We still have the coins currently in circulation.
“Well, no one around our age really uses pennies anymore," said Alexia Alvarez. "We usually just use Apple Pay or like our card to pay. If we use cash, very rarely.”
In a Truth Social post, President Donald Trump said it costs too much money to make new pennies, more than their 1-cent value.
San Luis Obispo business owners are not too bothered by this change.
“I mean cash [is used] very rarely," said Maria Trott, manager and co-owner of Thrifty Beaches. "Usually, for customer transactions, when people make purchases, less than 5% of the time it's cash.“
“What if your bill comes out to like $0.94? You only have a nickel," asked Gabriella Ruiz.
"In the case of $0.08 or like $0.06, we would just round up or down to like the nearest five," Trott said. "I don't think people mind either not having one or two pennies."
Although people KSBY spoke to understood why the Treasury Department stopped minting new pennies, some expressed minor concerns.
"It's definitely scary because it feels like it's moving on from cash," Ruiz said.
Many agreed that in the future, we could see a rise in cashless establishments.
