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Inflation is one of those things that happen year after year, regardless of the state of the economy. Remember when you could go to the movies for $4.25? I’m not talking a matinee price either. I’m talking about 7pm on a Friday night. Those were the good ‘ole days. Of course, I was about twelve and it was 1996. But these days everything is just so damn expensive. And even though there’s suppose to be this general rule to inflation dictating how much prices should increase over a certain number of years, I can’t help but notices that some establishments and certain commodities don’t seem to adhere to that unspoken rule.

One item however that seems to have taken a number of decades to inflate is the lucky penny. Literary references, songs, and even sayings, have made the concept of the “lucky penny” an exciting, whimsical item to find and behold. Even now, at twenty-seven, I admit that I harbor a certain enthusiasm for finding that forgotten, lost, and inevitably luck penny on the ground of a parking lot, supermarket, city street, etc… But is the lucky penny really that lucky anymore? In an economy where gas prices are $4 a gallon, cocktails average $12+ a drink, and most items at the 99¢ store cost more than a dollar, can we really still assume that the lucky penny still holds luck? After all, how much luck does one cent bring?

Over the last several weeks I’ve noticed a significant change in my beloved lucky pennies: I haven’t seen them around. Now, either they’re all getting swooped up by other seekers of luck before I can get there, or the luck penny has sadly become obsolete. In its place however, I have been finding dimes—everywhere! In the parking lot at my work, on the sidewalk in front of my house, on the floor in my bedroom, at the mall, and in the movie theater. For weeks I have not seen a single lucky penny, but I have seen an alarming number of…lucky dimes? It just doesn’t have the same ring. If inflation is happening to the lucky penny as it is happening to all other consumer products, and the dime has thusly stepped in and taken over for the one cent piece, then when did this all happen and more importantly, is it still considered lucky?

I admit that I haven’t picked up a lucky dime yet. Even though I’ve been seeing them around for weeks now, I just haven’t been able to accept the fact that inflation has hit my penny and has turned it into the dime. But I suppose if I don’t pick it up, put it in my pocket, and then pass it along to another, I may never know. I still get excited when I see the occasional lucky penny, but I have to accept the fact that like with most things, change is constant, and if I don’t pick up those lucky dimes, I’m missing out on a ten cent opportunity.