[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. Unlock the Ultimate Benefits with the United 1K Guide! One problem with this argument, according to penny proponents, is that if there were no pennies, the Mint would have to produce more nickels. Now put it to work for your future. 5. But penny opponents point out that even if the Mint stops producing pennies, charities won't simply lose out - they'll gradually be pulled away as stores stop accepting pennies and consumers switch to other coins. All these toxic metals can contaminate water, soil, and plants in the area surrounding the mine. Today, theres literally nothing you can buy with a single penny and you cant do much else with it either. The total amount doesn't end when coins and citizens are debating the penny and whether or not it should be kept. But one point that these advocates often overlook is the value of honoring Abraham Lincoln, the revered president depicted on the penny's face. But if we get rid of the penny we would have to stick with the nickel. "Open an IRA in 15 minutes." March 10, 2016 Should we keep the penny or not? Why or why not? Using your figures, that would amount to about 1000 ounces of copper. But others have a vested interest in keeping the penny alive. 7 Reasons to Get Rid of the PennyIt's a Money Loser for the Government. However, the fact that this poll was conducted by a pro-penny group suggests that the questions might be somewhat biased toward the pro-penny side. As the U.S. Mint faces the prospect of having to find more cost-effective compositions from which to make the nation's coinage, the debate about the continued existence of the humble penny is sure to carry on. The current cost for manufacturing a nickel is 7.29 cents per coin. Not only do they cost money to make, but they don't buy much anymore - you can't even buy gum with them! What Are Elastic, Unitary and Inelastic How to Approach Change in an Organization. "FAQs: How Issuers Work with DTC." Why or why not? In 2020, the penny debate gained new attention as the coronavirus pandemic led to a nationwide coin shortage. 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. At a time when federal spending is under intense scrutiny, this strong public support seems somewhat surprising, for analysts say it now costs the U.S. Mint two cents double face value to make a single penny. He argues that there are three main reasons for keeping the penny: Without it, we would become more reliant on the . Accessed Oct. 21, 2020. Author: www.thebalancemoney.com. The cent has served the nation well since then, and many Americans view it with affection a sentiment that has grown even stronger since the coin began featuring the likeness of Abraham Lincoln in 1909. 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. Companies would need to update their price catalogs. Should the penny stay in circulation? According to CNBC, adults who make less than $30,000 per year are about four times as likely to make most of their purchases with cash as those who earn $75,000 or more. Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Should the Penny Stay in Circulation? Despite all the arguments for retiring the penny, the majority of Americans are in favor of keeping it. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Many wont even bend to pick them up, as Andy Rooney noted on a 60 Minutes segment some years ago. A pro-penny group funded by the zinc industry calls these claims absurd, as they argue employees would save more time spent counting change than people would necessarily spend if we got rid of them. 3. Make sure you have some later too. He has written for many top publications, such as The New Yorker, Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. 10 reasons why we should keep the penny. To access extended pro and con arguments, sources, and discussion questions about whether the penny should stay in circulation, go to ProCon.org. There are plenty of DIY penny jewelry ideas out there, including a bracelet, a lucky penny necklace, and a bejeweled ring. Producing pennies also uses a great deal of energy. To access extended pro and con arguments, sources, and discussion questions about whether the penny should stay in circulation, go to ProCon.org. Along with the zinc, the ores usually contain other metals, including toxic metals like cadmium and lead. As a result, the Mint has to keep making more pennies. Despite what the old song says, pennies don't really come from heaven. Many people thought that 2009, the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln cent, should have been the last year of penny manufacture. However, it doesn't say what those reasons are. It's a Money Loser for Retailers. 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. 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. One of the biggest reasons that you should donate is to remove poverty from the world. People will start rounding up to five cents. More recently, the mint changed the cupro-nickel clad dollar coin (the Susan B. Anthony) to the "golden dollar" type used in theSacagaweaandPresidential Dollartypes. They are also bf and environment this doesnt make your hands very very very stinky I dont like the smell of metal. 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. OTC Markets. Some are opposed to change, and others are attached to the penny for sentimental . Charities benefit from spare change because, since people do not care about it, they are more likely to give it away. News sources such as NPR began speculating whether the penny would finally be retired or if crypto possibilities might replace it. 10 reasons why we should keep the penny. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. If only cash transactions are affected, then electronic transactions will continue to deliver more sensitive data. Eventually, this reduced demand will result in fewer pennies being minted each year. If we were to get rid of the penny, cash transactions would be rounded to the nearest nickel. Crypto possibilities are coming into play as more and more businesses accept digital currencies as payment. Whatever the rationale, 58 percent of men and 73 percent of women wanted to keep the penny in 2006, according to a Coinstar poll. [12], Pennies and nickels both cost more to make than their face values, but on average over the last five years, nickels have been made at a loss of 2.58 cents per coin, compared to .65 cents per penny. We like to give back to our local art community by presenting presidential line of succession 2022 - A fresh look at a contemporary and traditional southwestern art work. As the U.S. Mint explains, the copper surface of a penny accounts for only 2.5% of its metal content. The problem was resolved by reducing the size of the cent and changing its composition from copper to an alloy of copper and nickel. Those who think we should keep the U.S. penny cite the following arguments to support their position. Anti-penny advocates scoff at this argument, pointing out that Lincoln would still remain on the $5 bill, which is actually useful to consumers. This cost includes the metal content and the labor used to produce them. If so, how? Shops wouldn't get money from you and you can save up. For example, the zinc metals lobby, and the Coinstar company (who make those change-counting machines in the grocery store) will both fight hard to keep the penny in production. List two to three ways. You can also make some hand-stamped bling like this . 10 Rarest and Most Valuable Coins in the World, Early Jefferson Nickel Values 1938 - 1964. Most Americans want to keep the penny. ProCon.org. There will be no sanity in D.C., fiscal or otherwise, until a electoral majority recognizes there is a crisis and places people in office wholl effect a cure. Convenience stores across the nation have been showing how handling pennies adds up in cash transactions, but that doesn't sound like a huge issue until you look into the 2019 Federal Reserve study that shows the average consumer makes 11 cash transactions in one week. It is unclear whether the rounding would be up or down. The only real muscle the electorate has is the vote. 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. Despite the cost incurred by the Federal Reserve for minting pennies, many Americans still feel it important enough to honor Lincoln's legacy that they keep the coin bearing his image in circulation. Even the US Mint admits that the cost of producing a penny in 2007 could be as high as 1.4 cents. Less than forty years later, the mint reduced the weight to 2.67 g and used a composition of 90% silver. [22], At a total per unit cost of 1.82 cents, it costs nearly two pennies to make one penny. And as it grows ever easier for charities to accept donations electronically, coin drives are likely to play a diminishing role in fundraising. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. It takes energy to extract the zinc from the ore, roll it out, stamp it into coins, and transport the coins to banks. Read more to learn about the potential benefits of eliminating the penny. Get tips on managing costs, finding financial assistance & more! Millions of consumers also oppose the cents elimination on economic grounds. A few people groused about it, but commerce continued unabated. If we keep the penny prices will go up to five cents. The ubiquitous one-cent coin has been a part of our everyday lives for over two centuries - and some argue that it's time to get rid of it. In 2021, the Mint made 7.60 billion pennies, costing taxpayers $145.8 million. It too had very little purchasing power at the end of its life. 22, 2006, Philip N. Diehl, "The Real Diehl: Its Time for the United States to Eliminate the One Cent Coin," coinweek.com, Jan. 28, 2015, Last Week Tonight, "Pennies: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)," YouTube.com, Nov. 22, 2015, J. William Gadsby, "Future of the Penny: Options for Congressional Consideration," gao.gov, July 16, 1996, Aaron Klein, "Time for Change: Modernizing to the Dollar Coin Saves Taxpayers Billions," dollarcoinalliance.org, July 22, 2013, Michelle Z. Donahue, "How Much Does it Really Cost (the Planet) to Make a Penny?," smithsonianmag.com, May 18, 2016, Josh Bloom, "Want to Help the Environment?