The United States Treasury Department announced plans Thursday to begin phasing out the penny. In the statement, a Treasury spokesperson said the government has made its final order of penny blanks this month. The mint will continue to manufacture pennies only as long as an inventory of penny blanks exists. Consumers with pennies can still use them, but businesses will have to begin the process of rounding up or down cash transactions to the nearest nickle as the penny fazes out. The last time the US phased out a coin from circulation was 1857 when the treasury phased out the half-cent coin or hay-penny.
