So what happens to Americas 114 billion pennies once the US stops making them? | Money [Video]

(CNN) — The American penny isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The US Treasury Department announced Thursday that it plans to start winding down production of the one-cent coin it has been minting for more than 230 years. But the penny will still remain legal tender, and will still be in use at thousands of retailers around the country for sometime to come.

“If we look at the experience in Canada, for the first year after they stopped making pennies, there’s really no change in transactions,” Jeff Lenard, spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores, told CNN. Convenience stores do more cash transactions than any other group, about 32 million a day, or about 20% of the total number of purchases by their customers, Lenard said.

The National Retail Federation, which represents most major US store chains as well as thousands of small retailers, also said it anticipates its members will use pennies even after production stops at some point early next year, although it does anticipate that …