Are the days of our great grandchildren discovering these still a possibility? My 3 grandchildren are still young but I don't believe finding these in circulation is very likely once they reach my age with children of their own.
Someday coin roll hunters will feel lucky to find a pre-zinc cent. And our granchildren will say "Oh look daddy I found a pre-zinc penny".
Sadly nor would I. The way things are now most times I use cash the clerk acts like I'm trying to make a purchase with a jar of pennies.
Yes, I think the future of circulating coins looks more like thin magnetic strips than struck chunks of metal. It makes more sense with each passing year, though I think quite a bit of time will pass before coinage and bills completely disappear. But with electronic money some questions will become pointless. For instance, why eliminate the cent when everything is electronic? It will make no difference. As for me, I almost never have cash or change on me these days. When I do, it feels a little strange. I ask cashiers how many change versus cash transactions they process and many have told me that they see about 50% - 60% electronic overall. In then end, swiping a card is much easier, though also more brainless, than counting change and carrying heaps of coins and bills around.
I agree it is easier to simply swipe a card. I suppose I am just nostalgic as I still like to use cash for small purchases just for the change to later examine.
It may be easier, but it is slower. Watching cashiers while waiting in line I find doing electronic transactions takes longer, sometimes much longer.
I think we'll have a goodless future long before we have a cashless future. That is, we'll be standing around with plenty of coinage with nothing to buy.
I've a feeling that kids will be "finding" decomposing cents for many, many years to come. No worries here....
I wonder if these poorly made cents may become 'rare' in non-corroded condition. This pretty much has to be the fate of all business strikes, no?
Much will depend upon the environment in which a coin is stored. Considering the tens of billions that have been made, the chances of zincolns ever becoming rare as a type is slim to none. There's simply too many who stash coins away assuming they'll be worth a fortune someday.
I fill 5 gallon jugs with change to sort later on once full, I can assure you it didn't go in like that.
Electronic transactions are much faster than they used to be and they will get faster. I personally don't experience many slow transactions these days, but I also live in a large, heavily wired city. In my general experience electronic transactions are just as fast as cash. They are even faster when cashiers struggle with counting change, if they drop the change or if they have to break open rolls of new coins. The big headache is when the system goes down, which does happen occasionally - then cash does rule, as long as the system doesn't also bring the register down, which it tends to in these "IoT" days. Then it doesn't make any difference. I don't want transactions to go electronic, but I think it's inevitable. I miss the analog world, but I can't bring it back.
People have been collecting those for decades: http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/11/charge-cards.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-02-01-9101100146-story.html