1¢ R.I.P.

I think any alert reader of these postings will realize I've offered enough proof that the New York Times is going full imitation of The Wall Street Journal by offering perhaps not one, but sometimes two A-Hed type pieces on its front page. In Thursday's print edition paper it was two.

The first is a story of an all-star Spanish matador who is quitting the bull ring, the pageantry of bull fighting, and the cascade of Olés from the fans, because of depression. It is a rather long story that starts off with a prominent placing above the fold. The story comes under a feature called The Global Profile.

The second A-Hed-type piece comes under the matador one and is a cute tongue-in-cheek obit for the United States penny whose production has now officially ended after 232 years. It costs 3.7¢ to make a penny, and the discontinuance of it will save taxpayers $56 million a year.  

I'm always skeptical of claims of "savings." It really means that the money spent on creating pennies will do what, get refunded to taxpayers on an annual basis? No. It means that $56 million will no longer be allocated to creating the coin, but will likely wind up being spent somewhere else in the vastness of the federal budget. Just saying.

The penny obit writer, Victor Mather, writes a cute piece. The headline people caught the lightheartedness of the story and framed it as an obit, with a front page headline: 

The American Penny 1793-2025
Lodged Itself Into Sayings, Streets, Shoes Even 

The jump headline drops the hammer.

The Humble Penny, a Fixture in Sayings and in Streets, Dies at 232

The penny is easily the oldest subject that has ever been written about in a New York Times obit.

But Mr. Mather leaves out a good part of the penny's history. Unmentioned is that it was the Philadelphia polymath, Ben Franklin, who did declare that "a penny saved is a penny earned." The saying is presented, but not the famous founding father.

Also the saying, "penny wise and pound foolish" goes unrecognized amongst the penny thoughts in the story.

Google's AI tells us:

The phrase "penny wise and pound foolish" was first recorded in 1712 by Joseph Addison in his publication "The Spectator." Although it is often mistakenly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, it was actually Robert Burton who is credited with coining the phrase in his 1621 book "The Anatomy of Melancholy." The phrase means being careful with small amounts of money while being careless with larger sums. That in Latin should be on all United States budget documents. Maybe even the paper currency and coins. 

The biggest omission in Mr. Mather's piece is that there is no mention of the Indian Head penny which preceded the Lincoln penny and followed Lady Liberty. It was minted from 1859 to 1909

Talk about Cancel Culture. The Indian head penny did not really depict an American Indian, but rather a Caucasian woman wearing an Indian headdress chosen to represent unity and the American spirit, and a connection to the land during a time of national expansion and division during the Civil War.

Easy to see why the penny came to be known as an Indian Head penny. As a kid in the 50s and 60s being raised on TV Westerns, I heard the phrase "not worth a red cent." I always thought this was a mean term referring to an American Indian's reddish skin. Not so.

The term red cent originated in the early19th century when the penny gained wide circulation. The copper in the penny gave it the reddish glow that we know today, and it became known as a "red cent." "Not worth a red cent" meant that something had no value; it was not even worth a penny.

Mr. Mather is not the only journalist who seems to have forgotten about the Indian Head penny. The Wall Street Journal's piece by Richard Rubin also culture cancels when he tells us: 

"The U.S. began producing pennies in 1793, featuring a female figure of Liberty on the front and a linked chain on the reverse. That design invoked slavery to some and it was replaced. Lincoln's visage took over the front of the coin in 1909 as the nation celebrated the 100th anniversary of his birth." 

Mr. Rubin doesn't mention that the "chain cent" was short lived and lady Liberty was minted on the front with wreaths and other designs on the reverse until 1859.

No mention of the Indian Head, but Mr. Rubin does tells us why 1909 was chosen to commemorate Lincoln.

Mr. Mather doesn't enlighten the reader why 1909 was chosen to introduce a Lincoln cent. Well, it commemorated the centennial of Lincoln's birth in 1809. Mr. Mather certainly didn't collect coins when he was young. The Washington quarter was introduced in 1932 to commemorate the bicentennial of Washington's birth in 1732.

And if things keep going, there will be a coin with President Trump's likeness, front and back, on a $1 coin commemorating the semiquincentennial of the United States. That's the 250th anniversary for those who haven't yet been introduced to newscasters who will struggle saying it.

Coins and stamps are used to commemorate events. Will President Trump's likeness on the front and back prevent the coin from being flipped for a "heads or tails" call before football games? Only time will tell.

It's not quite a Y2K problem, but the elimination of the penny means that cash transactions will need to be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel. Burger King, McDonald's and any other vendor who deals in a lot of cash transactions find themselves needing to adjust registers to do the rounding up or down. $2.31 and $2.32 becomes $2.00; $2.33 and $2.34 becomes $2.35. Please, don't make the cashier have to think about this.

Some fast food places have stockpiled a supply of pennies to use until the register adjustments can be made.

And  certainly the last place anyone would think of where a rounding effort would be needed is the racetrack.

When calculating payouts, racetracks always resorted to a "dime break," or a "nickel break" when the  computer spit out the payouts. In New York, the dime break was used for decades. All payouts that resulted in cents were made to be evenly divisible by 10. Thus, if the computer said a payout should $4.78, the computer automatically posted a $4.70 payout. Rounding was always down, with the track skimming off a little more than just the usual takeout. In that example, 8¢. It can add up.

Canada used a "nickel break," rounding down to the nearest 5¢. I think eventually New York adopted the nickel break.

I'm sure readers have not seen what payouts can look like now. Kentucky started the "penny break," meaning there was no rounding. You could get payouts that were true and not rounded. If the computer said the payout should be $4.78, then $4.78 was posted and paid out.

Racing tracks used to be awash with cash. Because of the dime break, cashiers only ever had to have a supply of quarters and dimes to pay out a bet. Eventually, they needed nickels as well.

But now, "penny break" has produced payouts like $12.52; $9.02; $15.68. No one in New York has ever seen racetrack payouts like that. Cashiers will need all coin denominations to make odd-cent payouts. Will they round up and down as the penny disappears?

Lots of betting is done through online accounts, negating the need for physical cash payouts. But there are still people who show up at the races and bet and cash out with physical money. I posed the rounding question to a New York Racing Association (NYRA) executive, Patrick McKenna, via X, but got no reply.

I'm not surprised to be ignored. Over many years I've had a contentious relationship with NYRA over many things. At his, point I think they just ignore me, no matter what I might be on about.

What can you say when we're at the end? "Alas poor penny, I knew you well."

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