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President Donald Trump talks of big change in his second term of office. But he’s not forgetting small change, either. Trump ordered the Treasury Department to stop making pennies with a February 10 sentence on his social media account that followed years of conservatives pointing out that putting a copper-coated zinc disc in your pocket costs the government more than a centalmost 4 cents today. Will Trump’s order make the penny disappear? There is no sign that the U.S. Mint will stop pressing pennies in Denver and Philadelphia, and Mint officials did not respond to requests for clarification this week. But the presidential penny pledge is already being felt in one niche world. It’s a little-known world that depends on buying pennies wholesale, loading them into machines and persuading parents to feed a few dollars into machines that stamp designs on the penniesPaw Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesas they are stretched between metal rollers at funfairs. Small orbits of collectors and craftsmen have developed around them. And without the penny, the whole thing faces an uncertain future. The last pennies? New copper pennies vanished from circulation in 198273 years after the first Lincoln penny was minted. They were replaced by coins of mostly zinc thinly coated with copper. The solid copper old ones were more pliable and easier to stamp, making them hot items for kids at funfairs. Theyll clean em so when they elongate the dino or shark of the printed coin it maintains a ghost image of the printed head of Lincoln, said Brian Peters, general manager of Minnesota-based Penny Press Machine Co. Pre-1982 copper pennies, they bring those. Jeweler Angelo Rosato worked for decades in the 1960s and 70s hand-printing pennies with scenes of their New Milford, Connecticut, hometown and historical and sentimental scenes. Everything was obsessively cataloged, including more than 4,000 penny photographs. Were big fans of the penny. Keep the penny,” said Aaron Zablow of Roseland, New Jersey, who was with two of his sons at the American Dream mall. I like the pennies, his 9-year-old son Mason said. Some dont want the U.S. to stop making cents Critics say the rise of electronic commerce and the billions of pennies in circulation mean the U.S. could stop printing the copper coins tomorrow and see little widespread effect for decades. But some people are watching fearfully to see if Trumps public critique of the penny will affect their business. Alan Fleming, of Scotland, is the owner of Penny Press Factory, one of a number around the world that manufacture machines that flatten and stamp coins. A lovely retired gentleman in Boston sold me over 100,000 uncirculated cents a couple of years ago but he doesnt have any more, Fleming wrote. I will need to purchase new uncirculated cents within the next 12 months to keep my machines supplied and working! Regardless of what happens to niche businesses like Fleming’s, penny defenders say theyre an important tool for lubricating the economy even if theyre a money-losing proposition. Since the invention of money, humankind has wrangled with the question of small change, how to denominate amounts so small that the metal coin itself is actually worth more. In 2003, Thomas J. Sargent and another economist wrote The Big Problem of Small Change, billed as the first credible and analytically sound explanation of why governments had a hard time maintaining a steady supply of small change because of the high costs of production. Why pay money for coins? In a digital world with the line blurring between the real and the virtual, tactile coins have been reassuring. What this all tells you about the United States as a country is that its an incredibly conservative country when it comes to money, said Ute Wartenberg, executive director of the American Numismatic Society. Pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters are sometimes designed by artists laser-sculpting tiny portraits of leaders and landmarks using special software. Its pretty cool because when I tell people what I do I just say my initials are on the penny, Joseph Menna, the 14th chief engraver of the United States Mint, said in the 2019 film Heads-Up: Will We Stop Making Cents? Fleming is hoping some lobbying may help: Maybe we should take a trip to Washington and ask to speak to President Trump and Elon Musk and see if we can cut a deal on buying millions of pennies from them.” By Michael Weissenstein and Joseph B. Frederick, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
As artificial intelligence begins to devour the world, job seekers must adapt their strategy to stand out in the hiring process. Hiring managers have begun to populate their interviews with questions about how prospective employees use AI in their work. According to industry experts, these types of questions will become more common as time goes on and AI continues to advance. In fact, 88% of C-suite leaders say speeding up AI adoption is important over the next year, according to LinkedIn’s 2025 Work Change Report. This can be daunting for people who dont work in technology. You certainly dont want to tell a hiring manager that you use ChatGPT to write and ideate everything for you, but you also dont want to seem behind. We asked three hiring experts in different industries how non-techies can best navigate questions about AI in a job interview. Tip 1: Show curiosity Good news! Not being skilled in AI isnt a deal-breaker. Even if you are far from an AI expert, you should highlight your curiosity about the technology in your interviewing process, notes Gillian Davis, chief people officer at strategic communications firm Mission North. She recommends that job applicants speak about a willingness to learn and adapt quickly. Its most important that youre interested in AI, that you have a curiosity about it, and that youre willing to look at it as a powerful complement to talent, Davis says. AI is most powerful in the PR and communications space when it’s used as a way to tackle the mundane tasks, she says. Davis suggests showing off your understanding of what AIs capabilities are, how you can apply it to real-world scenarios, and your willingness to continue learning about and adapting to the new technology. For example, you could talk about ways youve used AI to be more productive and to free yourself up to perform the highest-value parts of your work. Davis says when she speaks with potential hires who are wary of integrating AI into their work, she sees it as a red flag for Mission North. Thats just not the world we live in anymore, she says. Tip 2: Know who youre dealing with Most of the largest organizations in the world are adopting AI and looking for creative ways to use the technology, according to Siobhan Savage, CEO of workplace intelligence platform Reejig. To best understand any companys outlook on AI, Savage recommends combing through its most recent earnings report, noting that CEOs are often very vocal about their companies AI attitudes. Savage suggests providing specific examples about how you use AI to optimize your work if youre interviewing for a company thats embracing the technology. If instead the company hasnt spoken much about AI adoption, she suggests highlighting the fact that youre keeping up to date with all the latest developments. For example, you could share that youve used AI to automate the more mundane parts of your job, or discuss how youve heard other people use it in your industry. Whether youre in tech or PR, it doesnt matter, Savage says. Everyone in a company cares about productivity. Tip 3: Even if theres no right opinion, have one When interviewing potential hires for his PR firm, Shore Fire president Mark Satlof likes to use questions about AI as small talk. But he treats applicants answers like a Rorschach test where he learns a lot about their work ethic and values, he says. You can answer it a million different ways and I dont know if theres a right or wrong answer, Satlof says. He notes, however, that he would not be interested in hiring someone who says they will never use AI. He wants prospective employees to have a stance and show engagement with technological developments. Its okay if someone is skeptical of AI or, alternatively, completely gung ho about the technology. Satlof just wants your opinion to be grounded in research and knowledge. He recommends that job applicants do their research before any interview about the various areas and capabilities of AI. For example, he says applicants should understand the difference between the broad catchall of AI versus the specifics of what a large language model is. (If youre wondering: AI refers to everything a computer does that simulates complex tasks, and LLMs are a type of AI that interprets and generates human language.) Applying for jobs can be a stressful experience, and it can be hard to know the right thing to say at all times. But by researching the company, brushing up on the basics of AI, and expressing a willingness to learn, you can present yourself as a good fit for any job.
Category:
E-Commerce
As toy inventors, toy manufacturers and buyers for stores that sell toys met for a four-day annual trade show in New York last weekend, a topic besides which items were destined for holiday wish lists permeated the displays. President Donald Trump had announced days before that he planned to increase the extra tariff he put on Chinese imports in February to 20%. Would he? By Tuesday, the last day of the Toy Fair, attendees had their answer, and the talk about how it would affect the prices of playthings grew more urgent. Nearly 80% of the toys sold in the U.S. are sourced from China, according to the Toy Association, a national industry group that sponsors the show formerly known as the North American International Toy Fair. Many toy makers are now renegotiating prices with retailers and taking a hard look at their products to see if they can cut costs. Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of the Toy Association, said price increases of 15% to 20% are expected on games, dolls, cars, and other toys by the back-to-school shopping season. The price range that U.S. consumers are willing to pay is anywhere from $4.99 to $19.99, leaving little wiggle room to raise prices, he said. Its untenable, Ahearn said, noting that small businesses make up roughly 96% of the American toy industry. Trump also moved forward this week with 25% tariffs on products imported from Canada and Mexico. Some companies have moved some of their manufacturing to Mexico to be closer to the U.S. On Wednesday, though, the president granted U.S. automakers a one-month exemption from the tariffs on the neighboring North American nations. Trump’s changing statements and policies on tariffs have made it challenging for toy companies to plan accordingly. Basic Fun CEO Jay Foreman said he didn’t rush late last year to get shipments of Tonka trucks, Care Bears, and other toys his Boca Raton, Florida-based company produces in China because he wasn’t sure if the 60% tariff on Chinese goods that Trump discussed on the campaign trail would come to pass. If you plan in a chaotic environment, you have a much greater chance of being wrong than being right, Foreman said when interviewed Sunday at his Toy Fair booth. All of Basic Fun’s toy products are made in China except for K’Nex, a construction set made in the U.S., he said. After Trump instead imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods last month, Foreman said he worked hard to persuade retailers to share some of the cost so he didn’t have to pass it on to consumers. Now that the import duty has doubled, he said he will have to raise prices for many of his items. For example, a Tonka Classic Steel Mighty Dump Truck, which now retails for $29.99, will likely go up to $39.99 as early as the fall, Foreman said. The Toy Association lobbied hard to exempt the toy industry from the 10% to 25% tariffs Trump levied on Chinese goods during his first term. The group lobbied again this time around, trying to educate members of Congress that toy companies can’t replicate the expertise found in Chinese factories. Ahearn noted there’s a lot of sophistication of manufacturing and craftsmanship that has been built up over time over generations in China. The high-skilled and lower-cost labor force that is available in China is not available currently, and it will take this same amount of time to build that up. Some toy companies are looking at ways to avoid raising prices. Steve Rad, CEO of toy maker Abacus Brands, said the Austin-based company considered switching to factories in countries like Cambodia or Vietnam, but concluded they dont have the same level of skills. He does, however, plan to start having one of the companys China-made products manufactured in the United States. Abacus Brands found a Texas factory that said it could produce Pixicade, which converts doodles and drawings into playable video games, at no additional cost. The U.S.-made version is expected to be in stores by August, Rad said. Other Abacus Brands toys are more complex, Rad said, and he doesnt see making them in the U.S. as feasible. Instead, hes exploring whether he can lower costs by cutting some product features. Foreman, of Basic Fun, said he plans to offer new spins on his existing toys to make them look new. Take Mashems, which are soft, water-filled collectibles that feature different licensed characters packaged in small cardboard boxes. Maybe Ill change the color of the box, he said. “Or maybe Ill put it in a plastic container. Some retailers already have received letters from toy suppliers announcing immediate price increases. Richard Derr is the owner of the Learning Express franchise in Lake Zurich, Illinois, and president of the 85-member Learning Express franchise council. He questions if those suppliers are acting in good faith since many of them had sped up deliveries from China ahead of the tariffs. He and other Learning Express franchisees are studying alternatives to suppliers that suddenly want to raise prices, Derr said. He said he isn’t too worried about customers comparing what a toy costs compared with the year before since 65% of his products are new to the market. We are in the era of one day, one thing, one day, two things, and it changes up and down, Derr said. So to put out something now, I think, is just preparing the stew when in fact the stew may not even be cooked.” By Anne D’Innocenzio, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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