Pennies Don’t Make Cents Anymore The U.S. penny has been a standard in our currency system for almost as long as our country has existed as a sovereign nation, but due to inflation, production costs, and the changing times we live in, it is no longer a sustainable unit of currency and only serves to increase our national deficit and waste our time. When the penny was produced for the first time in 1792 by the U.S. Mint, it was made of pure copper, featured a woman with flowing hair, and was inscribed with the words “Liberty”. Since then, the design and composition have changed numerous times to reflect our changing nation. Despite its fading glory, the penny has been kept alive by numerous false lobbying fronts and a stubborn ideology, but …show more content…
currency. From 1793-1857, there existed a coin called the half-cent ($0.005). When it was taken out of circulation in 1857, that coin had the buying power of today’s 13 cents, and an actual penny in 1857 was worth twice that (about a quarter in today’s money). The U.S. Mint did away with coin worth more than today’s dime, so why can’t we relinquish the penny? The purpose of a lower denomination of a currency is to split our money into manageable parts, so that something worth between x and y cents can be bought fairly without over or underpaying. However, nothing reasonably exists in any (U.S.) market today where the difference of +/- 4 cents makes a significant difference. Any difference greater than 4 cents can be handled by the nickel, dime, and quarter. To be fair, the penny once was a logical denomination — a 2.50$ coffee equivalent in 1900 would have cost you 0.09$, and here a penny constitutes a whole 11% of the price versus 0.4% of the price today. But when you have prices that have increased 2,568% over the past 110 years, the penny no longer proves itself a viable unit of …show more content…
The only difference between the U.S. and those countries is that they have made the progressive step to stop producing pennies. Their system is now as follows: Pennies can still be spent, but as no more production exists to balance out wear, tear, and loss, the population of pennies will gradually decrease until they become something of the equivalent of the U.S. 2 dollar bill. Values between 5 cent intervals are rounded up or down, and neither consumers nor vendors need to worry about overpaying/underearning, as the amounts rounded up and down balance each other out in the long run (.02 saved one transaction becomes .03 spent the next, and so on). Credit card transactions still go down to the cent, but as digital currency is handled by computers, it doesn’t pose any inconvenience to
Did you know the first penney the u.S. has ever seen was created and produced in the year 1857? The penny we know of has been in the states for 161 years. In the year 2012 there was a proposal that the United States get rid of the penny, the least valuable coin in the money system. The penny has so little value, but cost too much to make. Although the U.S. loses millions of dollars a year to the production of pennies, American pennies should not be ceased minting because of the risk of economic changes,the piece of culture they each possess and their “ power in numbers”.
The United States needs the penny today so they can get exact change. If someone owed three cents how do they pay it? The person would need a nickel, but they wouldn’t get two cents back in change. People would have more coins of higher value. If someone bought something for $1.97 they wouldn’t get change back, because there would be no pennies.
"The Penny Debate " by Brad Andrew is an article written to inform Americans about an ongoing conflict. Both sides are supported with good reasons; However, I think It would be beneficial to keep the penny. Based on the article, which implies that fellow Americas would lose much more than we're gaining. Things such as; Getting rid of the penny, Charities ran on coins will lose profits, putting U.S. Mint further in debt, and prices would rise. Many may think that eliminating the penny will be a plus, but aren't looking at both pros and cons in-depth for future references. Rather than getting rid of the penny altogether we could use a cheaper metal to produce
The penny must be eliminated as quickly as possible. The United States is in massive debt and instead of cutting programs which are vital to the economy and to citizens of the United States, the United States must find ways to cut expenses in parts that are often over looked. One great way to cut down on unnecessary spending is the penny. Believe it or not, the penny, the smallest denomination of currency in the United States is a huge waste of money. The one cent denomination has no use. You can no longer “buy anything with a penny” anymore. (William) The only use the penny has is to pay for the taxes, which, can be rounded off to the nearest nickel thus obliterating the need for a penny.
In America, there is still a debate if the penny should be eliminated. If it was to be eliminated it would still be used, but in a minimal way. In Canada, the Canadian penny was eliminated due to cost, time, and the country believed it was a waste of money, “inflation reduced its purchasing power by 95% since it was first minted domestically in 1908: back then the cent could buy goods of the cost of $0.20, today in other words.”(The Economist). Once a small coin can no longer be used to buy individual items at that price, but it is only used to make change, it becomes more trouble than it is worth. Canadian pennies cost “1.6 Canadian cents to manufacture, and the government expected to save $11 million a year by eliminating them”(The Economist). But that sum equivalent to 0.0006% of GDP is small change. Canadians feel that eliminating pennies is that their feeble purchasing power means dealing with coins,
Finally a fourth reason why the penny should be abolished is because its production cost exceeds its face value. The U.S. Mint is losing money, as it costs 1.5 cents to manufacture a one cent penny. This results in the U.S. Mint losing millions of dollars per year. For example, in 2016, the U.S. Mint lost $46 million dollars by producing pennies. This makes no sense logically. Why would you manufacture a product that you can not make a profit
The 9 countries include Alaska, New Zealand, Brazil, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Britain. “Years ago, Canada had plans to stop minting them and stop distributing them through loans” (source 1). This evidence shows that it’s possible to stop minting the pennies. Another example is the military, who dropped the penny 30 years ago. “Pennies are too heavy and not cost effective to ship” (source 2). So far, the rounding system hasn't been a problem for the military. Many countries have dropped the penny without any problems and that shows that we could drop them successfully
The penny is important to many because it can help with charity , sentimental and historic value.
The United States should get rid of the penny because it is people are not using them, cost too much, and other countries have already dropped the penny. The United States should get rid of the penny because we never use it, it cost to much to make and other countries have already dropped their penny. So if the United States gets rid of the penny it might affect the price in a increase but it also might affect them in a decrease so no matter what over this topic the world will not end and we will be
Money is the crux of society. Without it, anarchy would break out. Bargaining would fail as people would claim the trade wasn’t fair, thievery would explode across the globe, lazy people would do nothing, and people wouldn’t have motivation to do anything but help their own family and selves. Yet, while everyone knows money is important, is ALL money important? For centuries, the penny has been part of American currency. And back in the day, it served a great purpose. Pennies could buy candies, breads, and many other things all on their own. But as time has changed, so has the value of the penny. As costs went up, the value of the penny went down. And with its lesser value, some people wonder if it’s even worth it to keep the penny around. But the answer to that little puzzle is as easily seen as a jigsaw meant for four years olds is put together. The penny must be kept.
The penny has a lot of history, through the 200 years the penny changed design and value. Based on the article “The Ever-Changing Penny.” The first pennies were minted in 1857, they were very large, larger than a modern day quarter and had different images of the statue of liberty on the front(4). With this example, one can see,there were several visions for the penny before the final product of the Abraham Lincoln penny in 1909. The history of the penny reveals more than just a coin, it exposes a piece of american culture. The penny has influenced our language, giving us a number of idioms, such as “A penny for your thoughts” And “Not one red cent”(4). Despite its cultural influences the penny is under attack currently, the reason? Because making the penny also costs money, more than its worth,in 2011, it costs the U.S. more than 2.4 cents to produce the penny. The History of the One-Cent piece is a curious one. How long it will remain a part of your spending currency is yet
Between 2001 and 2006, there has been an increase of .6 cents for the reproduction of the penny. This increase displays economic problems that may lead to fatal ones. The penny is composed of 2% copper and 98% zinc. These elements are exponentially in demand causing the price of these materials to skyrocket. Many Americans think the penny is putting our country in jeopardy with financial losses. This meaningless coin is losing money for the mint, and should be abolished.
Everybody in America has once had that shiny, copper, small penny jingling in their pockets. The smallest denomination in the U.S. worth only one cent, has been a part of this country for hundreds of years. This coinage has brought a significant effect on our strong American economy. But a problem has been brought up within the last couple decades on whether or not the penny shall be abolished or not. The penny has historical importance and is appreciated more than people believe pennies to be
Pennies are used by Americans more than they realize. Parents give pennies to their children to throw into fountains in hopes of having their wish come true. Others rely on finding a penny on the ground for good luck. Despite the little value a penny holds, it may impact the economic status of Americans and charities, has importance in the pricing system, and remains as a part of American history.
How weird is the fact that making money costs money? Not only that, but in some cases, coins cost more to make than they’re economically worth! Due to this, many believe the penny should be out of production, as should the nickel, potentially. Others believe that the coin’s historical value, with it being similar to a heirloom in terms of age and personal value, should be enough to keep it in production. However, when considering how expensive manufacturing can get and how often the penny is used, it’s obvious getting rid of the penny is the best choice.