Argumentative Essay: We Should Keep The Penny

We should keep the penny because it has history, in fact it was “the first currency authorized by the United States” (Lewis). The penny no longer has the value that it used to have, but it is still necessary to make purchases as accurate as possible. The penny may seem like a waste of time to many Americans because it takes so long for cashiers to make change, forcing people to wait in line, but it is actually worth the time spent. The penny helps with keeping prices a cent lower, and therefore stimulating the economy. The penny is important to many people who need the money and for whom pennies still have value.

Even though members of Congress are trying to ban to penny, Americans can spare the time to use them. In Ric Kahn’s

article “Penny Pinchers” he quotes Jeff Gore, an MIT graduate who has calculated that the penny “Adds 2 to 2.5 seconds to each transaction” which adds up to “4 hours per person per year.” But when you add up how many hours the average person spends flossing their teeth or tying their shoes, those things also sound like a waste of time. It is worth the 2 additional seconds for someone to take out the pennies they worked hard for and use them. The use of chips in credit cards now adds time to each credit transaction, but no one is trying to ban the chips because they serve a function, just like the penny does. In fact, pennies help to keep those transactions accurate.
Pennies can help with pricing because without them, transactions could only be broken down into five cent increments. Without pennies, “Cash transactions would be rounded up or down” (Lewis). That may sound like a good idea because it would simplify the way that prices are determined, but most major economies still have a denomination that is equivalent to one cent.
In fact, “The E.U. sought to avoid the systematic rounding of prices” (Weller). Part of the reason that people believe that pennies are useless is that “It takes nearly a dime today to buy what a penny bought back in 1950” (Safire). Although this may be true, Edmond Knowles who saved 90 pennies a day for nearly 40 years and recently cashed it in for over $13,000 (Kahn). That shows that the value of the penny is relative, you can’t but much with a single penny, but they are still of great value when they are saved up. In that way, their economic value is dependant on the person who uses it. To a wealthy man like Safire, a penny isn’t much, but to a poor man like Knowles, it is his retirement fund.

The penny also helps the economy by providing jobs and helping poorer Americans save money.

“The penny has its fans, especially in Tennessee, which is rich in zinc”. If these jobs are lost the economy will hurt and would not look good for the american people who wanted to get rid of the penny. According to an independent poll asking people if they favored getting rid of the penny, 32% in an income bracket above $75,000 said they were, while only 16% of those making less than $25,000 agreed (Abolish the Penny?). For people making less than $25,000, pennies do not end up, as William Safire says, “behind chair cushions” because those people need them.

The penny should be saved. Prices will be rounded up to the nearest nickel and this will cause people to pay more for their essentials. Getting rid of the penny will affect the poor the most since the poor cherish and save their pennies like Edmond Knowles. Charities such as Wounded warrior, patient advocate project and Ronald Mcdonald house will be hurt since many people put their pocket change in the donations. The penny is essential wwe have always hd the penny and should always have it.