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The 1-cent coin has gone the way of the VHS player. The United States produced its last penny on Nov. 12 after nearly 240 years in circulation as the cost to produce the coin outpaced its value.

At the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Coin Club鈥檚 semi-annual Great Southwest Coin Expo earlier this month, coin collectors 鈥� known as numismatists 鈥� were largely indifferent.

鈥淚 could (not) care less either way,鈥� said Bob Uzelac, a coin collector from American Fork, Utah. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 buy anything anyway.鈥�

The penny has long been relatively useless as actual currency. Cash is falling out of fashion 鈥� paper money accounted for only 14% of all payments last year as digital wallets surged in popularity, according to a by the Federal Reserve.

A 2019 from Yahoo Finance titled 鈥�30 Surprising Uses for Your Unwanted Pennies鈥� suggested that the coins can be useful for checking tire treads and fixing a wobbly kitchen table. If you have a lot of pennies, the story proposed filling a sock with them to use as a weapon.

The actual cost to the U.S. government to manufacture one penny is 3.7 cents, a cost that has exceeded the value of the coin for 19 years. Perhaps, then, the penny has served its purpose.

鈥淚 think when it costs more to make (than it鈥檚 worth), you鈥檙e really throwing money away,鈥� said Rick Russell, who owns Cheyenne Coins out of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The United States joins Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the Bahamas, which have all eliminated their penny equivalents in the last four decades.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fine,鈥� said Mark Machosky, a coin dealer from Englewood, Colorado, when asked his thoughts on the downfall of the penny. Machosky told the Journal he hoped it would draw more people to coin collecting, just as the state quarter program had done years before.

Pennies made up some of the coins on display at the expo, though most attendees in the ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Hotel gravitated toward rarer and more expensive offerings like the silver dollar.

Certain rare and old iterations of the penny can be worth something, said Matthew Peacock, coin show organizer and sa国际传媒官网网页入口 coin and antiquities dealer, like one in his showcase worth about $5,500.

鈥淏ut as a general rule, yeah, they鈥檙e going to be worth a lot less than something like an old silver dollar from the same year, or an old half-dollar, even from the same year,鈥� Peacock said.

The U.S. won鈥檛 run out of pennies anytime soon, he said. The Mint produced between 25 and 50 million pennies yearly, sometimes multiple prints of different types.

鈥淚f you do the math on that, that鈥檚 2.5 billion pennies or something like that,鈥� Peacock said. 鈥淯s running out of pennies or them getting rare is really not a possibility.鈥�

Since the , Congress has been considering legislation to eliminate the penny due to cost concerns, though an interest group called Americans for Common Cents 鈥� funded by the that sells zinc to the U.S. Mint 鈥� fought hard to keep the one-cent coin, arguing that its demise would hurt charities that rely on change and force retailers to raise prices to the nearest nickel, which very well happen.

Peacock said he doesn鈥檛 feel sentimental about the penny鈥檚 retirement. He thinks it鈥檒l probably become a novelty, much like the $2 bill, which was retired in 2013, or the Twinkie, which temporarily disappeared from shelves for several months after its manufacturer, Hostess, in 2012.

鈥淧eople didn鈥檛 care about Twinkies until they thought they were going away,鈥� Peacock said. 鈥淚 feel like it鈥檚 kind of a similar deal where there will be some hype and maybe a new interest, but as far as value or extreme collectibility, that鈥檚 鈥� I mean, I don鈥檛 have a crystal ball, but I would say that鈥檚 not going to happen.鈥�

Ultimately, the end of the penny is a positive, Peacock said, if it piques the public鈥檚 interest in coins.

鈥淚f it makes old pennies more appreciated, I would say that鈥檚 a good thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not saddened by it.鈥�