It will be a lot easier just to keep the penny because then we don't have to tell everyone to change. http://www.moneycrashers.com/get-rid-penny-reasons/Are you in favor of getting rid of the penny? Their reasons differ. Managing Editor Pennys also teach kids about money like there 1, 5, 10, 25, and dollars bills if we didn't have the penny they wouldn't even know what they penney is an advanchley we would forget about . This cost includes the metal content and the labor used to produce them. The United States penny has had a fascinating journey since entering circulation. Theyre so hard to use that they end up stuffed in jars or abandoned on sidewalks. Accessed Oct. 21, 2020. However, a newer study by economist Robert Whaples, published by the Eastern Economic Journal in 2007, contradicts Lombras findings. Keeping the Penny. Although these arguments aren't based on factual evidence, there is something to be said for keeping the penny around. At this rate, the United States loses millions of dollars producing pennies and nickels. All of this numismatic change took place without any significant problems. [11] In 2009, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society announced that school children had collected over 15 billion pennies in support of its charitable work thats $150 million dollars for blood cancer research and treatment. 1. You can also make some hand-stamped bling like this . All information published on this website is provided in good faith and for general use only. 4. A 2006 Coinstar poll found that 33 percent of American men and 22 percent of American women do not value spare change. The official name for the US penny is one-cent piece, according to the US Department of the Treasury, but early Americans were allegedly in the habit of using the British term penny. [4][35], 4. Vending Machines Don't Want Them. The elimination of the penny would cause prices to be rounded up to the nearest nickel, which would be a burden on consumers, businesses, and the economy. Additionally, the United States Mint changed the silver composition and weight of many coins due to the increasing price of silver. Accessed Oct. 21, 2020. In 2013, Aaron wrote an anti-penny screed pointing out that it costs more to make a penny than its face value - 1.8 cents each - and therefore it is not cost-effective. "IRA FAQs - Investments." Dimes cost less than $0.04 to make, so the Mint could produce more of those without losing money. It's the $2 bill and it's the rarest small-denomination currency in circulation, representing about 1 percent of our money. Some supporters of the penny point out that its the only coin bearing the image of Abraham Lincoln, probably our nations most revered president. For people making over $100,000 those few extra cents don't matter. Supporters of the penny dont buy this argument. Or should the U.S. keep it's smallest coin? Most US coins have an expected circulation life of 20 to 30 years, meaning a single penny could be used thousands or even millions of times. Penny opponents such as Kolbe, Whaples, and Mankiw have all expressed the hope that the pandemic and the resulting coin shortage will finally provide the incentive for Congress to get this virtually worthless coin out of our pockets and our lives. Along with the zinc, the ores usually contain other metals, including toxic metals like cadmium and lead. [27], Rounding transactions to the nearest nickel instead of using pennies wouldnt harm consumers or stores. However, it doesnt say what those reasons are. On its website, the group marshals an array of arguments that eliminating the penny would lead to disaster for consumers, charities, the government, and the economy as a whole. The general rarity of the $2 bill is compounded by the fact that many people hoard them. Why We Should Kill the American Penny | PBS NewsHour 16, 2015, United States Mint, "Fun Facts Related to the Penny," usmint.gov (accessed July 2, 2018), APMEX, "The 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent the King of Lincoln Cents," apmex.com (accessed July 2, 2018), United States Mint, "History," usmint.gov, June 19, 2018, Jennie Cohen, "10 Things You Didn't Know about the Penny," history.com, Mar. In 2006, New Zealand eliminated the nickel, and while they were at it, they significantly shrunk down the rest of the coins. 3. The Mint made nearly 6 billion pennies in 2012 and lost a cent on every single one of them. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. Finally, small-change drives aren't always enough to raise funds - clean sorting and counting are required before any money can be collected, and many organizations are now accepting donations electronically over coin drives for this reason. This article was published on July 2, 2018, at Britannicas ProCon.org, a nonpartisan issue-information source. However, he also stresses that even if prices did increase, the difference would be so tiny it couldnt possibly affect the CPI. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. No, dropping the Penny won't cost the government more. A second reason this should happen is that it is bad for the environment. Opinion | Abolish the Penny - The New York Times The group that conducted that survey Americans for Common Cents advocates retention of pennies, but impartial polls have come up with similar results. Most recently, in 2017, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) sponsored ultimately failed legislation that would have suspended minting of the penny. -- who dumped their low-denomination coins 30 years ago, will be laughing at our senseless jingling. For example, a pizza shop that sells a slice of pizza for $1.98 might start charging $2.00 instead. . It takes energy to extract the zinc from the ore, roll it out, stamp it into coins, and transport the coins to banks. Many wont even bend to pick them up, as Andy Rooney noted on a 60 Minutes segment some years ago. But today, vending machines don't accept pennies, parking meters are coinless and automatic toll booths won't take them either. The army don't think we even need the penny because it too heavy to travel. The US Mint shipped 8.4 billionpenniesfor circulation in 2017, more than all nickels (1.3 billion), dimes (2.4 billion), and quarters (1.9 billion) combined. Faced with a similar sea of red ink, Canada stopped making cents in May 2012. Act is still in committee. So can we do without the penny? Economist Greg Mankiw of Harvard University argues that pennies are simply no longer useful as a means of exchange: When people start leaving a monetary unit at the cash register for the next customer, the unit is too small to be useful.. Accessed Oct. 21, 2020. The penny was first minted in 1857. However, 59% of adults polled between June 10 and June 16 of 2004 by Harris Interactive said that they . At the G-8 summit next week, the Brits and the French -- even the French! If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the other side of the issue now helps you better argue your position. [25] A California company called Mikes Bikes has banned the penny from its registers because Making pennies wastes natural resources [and] is toxic to people and the environment. [26], The use of pennies in paying for goods and making change adds time to sales transactions. Those who support getting rid of the penny argue that it is useless, inconvenient and takes up space that could be given to other denominations of currency. Mining zinc and copper produces carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants, and uses vast amounts of energy. 10 Things You Can Do With Pennies | Mental Floss Shopkeepers would have to either change the prices on all of the items in their inventories or reprogram registers to round automatically when an item is charged. Charities benefit from spare change because, since people do not care about it, they are more likely to give it away. Top 3 Pros and Cons." Americans were wary of underweight coins at that time, so the government decreed that all U.S. coins even copper coins must contain enough metal to be worth very nearly as much intrinsically as their monetary face value. (This is true for lots of U.S. ,Sitemap,Sitemap, richard sargent obituary new providence nj. We should get rid of pennies because it cost less and is useless but it could be helpful, I think we should keep the penny because it is sill money, what the creep who ever wrote these are all bum hahahahaha. One-cent pieces account for nearly three-fourths of the coins now A Penny For Your Thoughts: Why Pennies Are Still Necessary [31][32][33], 2. They're Bad for the Environment. They dropped the penny and rounding happens just the way you learned in like 2nd grade. 6.9 Reasons Why America Should Get Rid of the Penny - The Balance. Although debate continues today about whether we should get rid of the penny entirely or not, its long history is something worth noting and its clear that it has undergone some monumental changes over time from its composition to its patterns on both sides - which makes it an interesting part of our nations history. The current inflation rate is 3.2%, which is below its historical average, so it's unlikely that getting rid of the penny would cause any widespread increase in prices either. 10 reasons why we should keep the penny . 29, 2017, Andrew Stelzer, "Phasing out Pennies in a Bid for Change," npr.org, Nov. 29, 2009, Shaun O'Brien, "Consumer Preferences and the Use of Cash: Evidence from the Diary of Consumer Payments Choice Working Paper," frbsf.org, June 2014, Raymond E. Lombra, "Eliminating the Penny from the U.S. Coinage System: An Economic Analysis," Eastern Economic Journal, Fall 2001, Vancouver School of Economics, "Penny Rounding Profitable for Canadian Grocers: UBC VSE Student Research," economics.ubc.ca, Nov. 16, 2017, Reuters, "Pennies: The Throwaway Coins We Can't Let Go Of," latimes.com, May 31, 1994, Amy Livingston, "Should We Get Rid of the Penny? Author: www.thebalancemoney.com. Argumentative Essay: Keep The Penny | ipl.org - Internet Public Library Instance penny supporters claim that the penny still holds value and should be kept in circulation. As both stores and individuals stop keeping pennies on hand, banks wont need to supply as many. The difference between the face value of a coin and and the actual cost to make it is known as seigniorage. Preserving the penny keeps consumer prices down and avoids harming low-income households. The bills, according to the Federal Reserve, cost only $0.155 to print, far less than their $5 face value. And in 1982, it virtually reversed the percentages of zinc and copper, in the process reducing the weight of the coin to its present 2.5 grams. The United States should get rid of the penny because it is people are not using them, cost to much, and other countries have already dropped the penny. Read our guide on how to clean pennies. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Abraham Lincolns face replaced an image of Lady Liberty on the penny in 1909, the 100th anniversary of his birth, making him the first real person featured on a regular-issue American coin. At no point did it rise above its historical average of 3.2%. In this blog post, we explore the potential of cryptocurrencies to replace the penny. President Obama in his 2014 YouTube chat suggested that Americans are attached emotionally to the penny because it brings back happy childhood memories of saving pennies in piggy banks and seeing them eventually turn into dollars. PDF 5th Grade Opinion Writing Prompt - uen.org All these toxic metals can contaminate water, soil, and plants in the area surrounding the mine. 10 reasons why we should keep the penny - theflowerfall.com The reason that we should continue the production of pennies is because the citizens of the United States do not deserve more change than is needed. We're Moving Away from Currency. Without pennies, the Mint would be forced to make more five-cent pieces. With that in mind, halting production of the penny may be a sensible decision for society as a whole. Numerous Americans are in favor of keeping it due to sentimental value, while others say it is just too costly. Now put it to work for your future. The 2020 annual report also states that the mint shipped 8 billion coins last year, most of which were nickels and quarters; dimes still put into circulation cost only 6 cents each to make. The U.S. One Cent coin, or penny, has almost no purchasing power today. And nickels cost 10 cents to make. Millions of pennies are produced every day and sent out all over the country. In 2013 alone, this cost taxpayers $105 million. Some are opposed to change, and others are attached to the penny for sentimental . Companies would need to update their price catalogs. Every year charities like the Lymphoma Society and Ronald McDonald House raise funds through penny drives, encouraging people to donate their unwanted pennies. This is the least substantive argument in favor of keeping the penny, and yet, ironically, its probably the most effective. This change was likely an attempt to cut costs further as the cost of copper had risen again by this time. There's a downside to life without pennies. One-cent pieces account for nearly three-fourths of the coins now being made by the federal government and critics maintain that the Mints facilities and workforce could be used to better advantage, and much more profitably, by devoting them instead to higher-value coins that yield substantial profits. "Open an IRA in 15 minutes." The US Mint produces coins as instructed byCongress, so a law would have to be passed by Congress and signed by the President in order for pennies to be removed from circulation. Not only do they cost money to make, but they don't buy much anymore - you can't even buy gum with them! Should the US government consider removing other coins from circulation as transactions become more digital? In 2010, it cost 1.67 cents to produce each penny. Learn how to protect yourself when the bank takes your car. ], ProCon.org, "Should the Penny Stay in Circulation? He is also heavily involved in numerous charities and volunteer efforts throughout the city. Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona sponsored a bill in February 2014 that President Barack Obama argued was a common-sense approach to reducing government waste. Despite what the old song says, pennies dont really come from heaven. Those who oppose keeping the penny say it's not likely that we will identify new ways to bring down the cost of manufacturing pennies. Of course, spending $0.018 to make a coin thats worth only $0.01 isnt necessarily a bad idea because coins are reusable. [7] Raymond Lombra, Professor of Economics at Pennsylvania State University, says the extra rounding charges would exceed $600 million annually and would be regressive, affecting the poor and other disadvantaged people groups disproportionately. [9], One study found that penny rounding in Canada costs grocery store customers an estimated 3.27 million Canadian dollars (2.5 million USD) annually. Would love your thoughts, please comment. There has been a growing debate on whether we should keep the penny or let it go. It's clear that the modern penny is no longer necessary in our financial system. The cost of producing them is higher than face value. However, it could be biased because of the differences between segments of the population that pay electronically and with cash. Nickels cost 7.7 cents to make, (2.7 cents over face value, as opposed to 0.26 cents over face value to make a penny,) so making each nickel costs 1.44 cents more than making each penny. Consider the con arguments from NPRs Planet Money reporter Greg Rosalsky. The U.S. Mint reports that it costs nearly 1.6 cents to product one single cent (Grenoble, 2013). The penny, a one cent coin, costs 2.41 cents to make, which is nearly 1.5 times what it's worth (source 1). All rights reserved. Her areas of writing expertise include economic theory and applications, Russian culture and scuba diving. Perhaps the main issue is that some of the major opponents to getting rid of the penny are the producers of coin blanks and the U.S. zinc lobby -- the groups that profit from the production of the penny. Eliminating the Penny Reflect: Freewrite Now that you've had a chance to read, review, and reflect on "The Penny Debate," record your thoughts and feelings about whether to keep or eliminate the penny. The Department of Defense banned the use of pennies at overseas military bases in 1980 because the coins were deemed too heavy and not cost effective to ship. Thus, it couldnt affect government expenditures or trigger widespread inflation. The Fascinating Journey of the United States Penny, Penny Stocks Trading Guide: A Beginner's Primer, Creating an LLC NJ: A Simple, Step-by-Step Guide. Those who think we should keep the U.S. penny cite the following arguments to support their position. Since 2006, Jarden has given $1.2 million to Americans for Common Cents (ACC). Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard The typical store doesn't even have them available for purchase or give them out in change - they flat-out refuse! Economist Greg Mankiw of Harvard University argues that if people start leaving pennies at cash registers due to their lack of purchasing power (in 2020 dollars, 15 pennies would be worth one monetary unit), then maybe then the useless halfpenny will finally be stamped out too. Some stores are even refusing to accept cash altogether. With more consumers moving toward contactless payment methods, news sources from Fortune to NPR began asking: Is the penny finally on its way out? We strive to write accurate and genuine reviews and articles, and all views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors. Whats less clear is why Americans are so committed to a coin with so little monetary value. According to William Safire, in 1950 a penny would buy what a dime would buy today. Will todays cent get the same kind of reprieve? The United States should continue the production of the penny. ProCon.org. To anti-penny advocates, thats a lot of costs for a coin that cant even buy a piece of gum anymore. Analyze the pro argument of Mark Weller from Americans for Common Cents. The melt value of a zinc penny is one-half of a cent. 25, 2019, Jenny Gross, "Will the Penny Survive Coronavirus? Furthermore, since crypto coins are divisible into smaller amounts than fiat currency, it would be easier for people to pay for items in exact amounts rather than rounding up or down to the nearest full denomination. We Have a Precedent for Eliminating Worthless Coins. Often, when we pay with cash at a store, the total amount doesnt end in a multiple of $0.05. Despite all the arguments for retiring the penny, the majority of Americans are in favor of keeping it. The arguments for halting production of pennies basically boil down to the idea that theyre more trouble than theyre worth. Pennies today are worth almost nothing, but they still cost money to produce and consume vast quantities of natural resources. (6) The penny has become useless as a means of exchange. The Penny Debate: to Keep Or not to Keep - GradesFixer Last year, almost 60% of the coins that the U.S. Mint churned out were . [29] An estimate from Citizens to Retire the penny says that the 107 billion cash transactions in the United States annually add up to 120 million hours of time between customers and employees at a cost of $2 billion to the US economy. In Defense of the Penny - InsideSources At the direction of Congress, the Mint has been studying potential new compositions that would make the coin cheaper to produce and save the denomination from the scrap heap. [5], Mark Weller, Executive Director of the pro-penny group Americans for Common Cents, says, The alternative to the penny is rounding to the nickel, and thats something that will negatively impact working families every time they buy a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk. [6], The US Federal Reserve found that minorities and low-income people are more likely to use cash than credit cards. These coins have become highly sought-after collectibles and in 2010 one sold for $1.7 million - a record amount paid for a 1943 copper cent! The debate over whether to keep the penny or discontinue it has intensified since the penny crossed the line of one-cent production cost per penny. That means the cost of some items would go up. It cost 2.4 cents to make the penny. Without pennies to make exact change, prices would have to be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel and skeptical Americans fear that most of the rounding would be up, increasing the cost of much of what they buy. The penny is no longer a useful form of currency and its continued existence is costing the US government money. Some of the arguments for keeping the penny are practical ones. Lombra did his careful analysis by simply looking at a convenience stores prices and assuming that each consumer would buy three items in one visit. [ 34 ] 5. It remains to be seen how permanent the new reverse will be, with the fiscal sword of Damocles hanging ominously over the pennys future. Consumers using credit wouldnt be affected by this because their transactions could still be counted out to the cent. The content on Money Crashers is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as professional financial advice. Some say the United States should stop using pennies because the cost of producing the coin is now higher than the value of the coin. In fact, during that year the Mint accidentally made 40 copper pennies! The composition of the coins consisted of an outer shell made out of 75% copper and 25% nickel bonded to a core of pure copper. His mission is to use his platform as an author to bring awareness and perspective on important issues affecting everyday life. MAKE JEWELRY. In 2017 it cost the U.S. Mint 1.8 cents to make each penny and 6.6 cents for each nickel. 9 "Centsible" Reasons to Get Rid of the Penny . In 1962, it removed tin from the alloy, changing it from bronze to brass. However, once stores stop accepting pennies, consumers will have even more incentive to donate the coins to charity because they wont be able to use them anywhere else. 10 reasons why we should keep the penny. Sign up for more easy craft ideas, fun hobbies, and DIY projects, Lincoln Wheat Penny Key Dates, Rarities and Varieties. Today, theres literally nothing you can buy with a single penny and you cant do much else with it either. Penny's sentimental value proves priceless - Coppell Student Media Authority to discontinue pennies rests with Congress and so far, that august body has been gripped by indecision as it ponders conflicting arguments by lobbying groups on both sides of the issue. The cost of making pennies in 2019 was 1.99 cents per coin. [34], 5. For the first 50 years, the Lincoln cents reverse displayed two sheafs of wheat framing the statement of value. (5) The United States should follow the lead of other countries and discontinue the penny, because it is obsolete and costs more than it is worth. Dominic is passionate about writing stories that have the power to make a difference in peoples lives.He believes that knowledge is key to understanding and progress, which he strives to bring to his readers through his work. Both sides in the penny debate make some good points, and the solution is far from being an easy decision. )," YouTube.com, Sep. 6, 2010, Greg Mankiw, "Get Rid of the Penny!," gregmankiw.blogspot.com, Apr. The Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Penny | ipl.org