Goodbye penny tree. Hello nickel tree? Dime tree? Quarter tree?

Perhaps I’m in the minority, but it pains me that we’re losing the 1-cent coin from our currency lineup early next year, following the recent directive from President Donald Trump to discontinue production of the 233-year-old coin.

What in the name of Abraham Lincoln is going on?

Oh, I get it. Purely from a dollars-and-cents standpoint, a penny costs 3.7 cents to make. That explains why the Treasury Department lost about $85 million last year to produce a coin that often ends up on the sidewalk, in a piggy bank or in the loose-change compartment in your car.

Indeed, the government said phasing out the copper and zinc penny would save $55 million annually, enough to cover part of the cost of building a new Air Force One.

While the penny might not be relevant anymore, it is in my family. Let me briefly explain. We have an honest-to-gosh penny tree that has stood straight and tall for decades on a hillside next to our family cottage in Wisconsin.

Every time it rains or the wind blows with gale-like force, loose pennies fall from the mammoth tree to the ground — like so many pine cones — waiting to be scooped up by the kids. The children have even been known to divide their take, count the coins and share so everybody gets in on the action equally.

This summertime ritual has been going on for generations. The children gaze to the heavens waiting for a big drop, which happens as is custom long around bedtime.

You expect me to tell the kids the penny tree’s days are numbered?

To keep the spirit of the penny tree alive, I plan to stock up on rolls of pennies and hoard them like collector’s items until rain and wind knocks them loose from branches above.

As penny supplies fade, the Treasury Department says businesses will have to round prices to the nearest 5 cents for cash transactions, similar to what’s happened in Canada since it scrapped its penny in 2012.

But before planting nickel trees, there’s a catch: It costs almost 14 cents to make a nickel, which would easily wipe out any savings from no longer producing pennies. Will nickels be the next to go?

On the other hand, it costs about 5.2 cents to 6 cents to make a dime, meaning the U.S. Mint makes a profit on each dime produced.

Kids, how does a dime tree sound?

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