Across the nation, signs both handwritten and laser-printed warn shoppers about the penny shortage and to use a card if they want exact change. Should anyone have any cents left, they might want to hold on for dear life: today will see the final penny minted in the U.S.

The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia is set to strike its last circulating penny on Wednesday as the president has canceled the 1-cent coin as the cost of making them became more than their value. The U.S. Mint has been making pennies in Philadelphia, the nation's birthplace, since 1793, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act. Today, there are billions of them in circulation, but they are rarely essential for financial transactions in the modern economy or the digital age.

There's nothing new about calls to scrap the 1c co

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