Already gone, and what to do now

On November 12, 2025, the U.S. Mint struck its last penny for circulation, ending a 232-year run, Coin World reported. Pennies remain legal tender. There are an estimated 300 billion of them in circulation, and businesses can still price things in one-cent steps.

What to do now. Nothing you must do. Pennies are still money: spend them as usual. If you have a jar of them, ask your bank or credit union how it takes coins.

AOL ended its dial-up internet service on September 30, 2025, after more than three decades. In its announcement, reported by MacTrast, AOL said the service and its software, the AOL Dialer and the AOL Shield browser, would be discontinued that day, and that dial-up would no longer be part of AOL plans. AOL also said its free email accounts and other services were not affected, according to Yahoo News.

What to do now. Your AOL email address still works. Read it at AOL's own site, typing the address yourself, or in AOL's app. To get online, ask the companies that serve your street what internet service reaches your address, or use the mobile data on a phone or tablet. If you still pay AOL for a plan, look at what that plan includes now that dial-up is gone, and decide whether you still want it.

Since May 7, 2025, airport security has required adults flying within the United States to show a REAL ID or another acceptable ID; an old-style license is no longer enough on its own. TSA's REAL ID page says that if your driver's license or state ID has a star (or a flag) or says "Enhanced," you're ready, and that a passport works instead. TSA's list of acceptable IDs has others too, such as a U.S. passport card, a military ID, a permanent resident card and a Veteran Health Identification Card.

Without an acceptable ID, you can choose to use TSA ConfirmID: you pay a $45 fee so TSA can try to confirm who you are, with no guarantee it can, and you may miss your flight. TSA says using it is optional. Each adult without an acceptable ID pays separately, and the payment covers 10 days from the travel date you enter.

What to do now. Look at your license for the star, flag or the word "Enhanced." If it has none, either take your passport or another ID on TSA's list when you fly, or visit your state's driver's license office for a REAL ID before your next trip. TSA says the ConfirmID fee can be paid only through Pay.gov, so ignore any other site offering to "process" it for you.

Microsoft retired Skype on May 5, 2025, for both free and paid users. Microsoft's page says people can move to Microsoft Teams Free, and that signing in to Teams Free with your Skype details brings your contacts and chats across. The same page says all Skype Number subscriptions ended in May 2026, and that if you weren't active in Skype and Teams Free during the period it describes, your Skype history was completely deleted after June 15, 2026.

What to do now. To keep making video calls, sign in to Microsoft Teams Free with the email and password you used for Skype, or use whichever video-calling app your family already uses. If people used to call you on a Skype Number, that number no longer works; give them the number you use now.

The three big mobile networks switched off their 3G service in 2022. Light Reading reported that AT&T turned off its 3G network on February 22, 2022; T-Mobile closed Sprint's 3G network on March 31 and its own on July 1; and Verizon finished on December 31, 2022. Then T-Mobile set August 3, 2026 as the date to retire its 2G network, and Android Authority reported that day that the 2G signal had gone dark. A phone or gadget that could only use one of those networks can't connect any more.

What to do now. Check the older gadgets that call for help: medical alert pendants, car emergency buttons, home alarm panels, and the old phone kept in a drawer "for emergencies." Many have a test button or a test call; use it the way the maker describes. If one no longer connects, ask its provider for a replacement that works on today's networks. Don't rely on an old phone for emergencies until you've checked it.