Essay On Abolishing The Penny

Abraham Lincoln has failed the United States economy. Not the person, but the coin where the Presidents portrait resides. Although many people see the penny as a staple in American currency, due to the memorializing portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, there is less need for them in our modern economy. Furthermore, the penny has decreased in value and is no longer useful in circulation. America should follow in the footsteps of other developed counties and discontinue our lowest denomination coin.

Since time is money, time wasted is money lost. Keeping the penny around has seen noticeable degradation in the economy by slowing down transactional efficiency. The NACS (National Association of Convenient Stores) analyzed how the penny affects convenient

store and the results show “handling pennies adds 2 to 2.5 seconds to each cash transaction” (Source B). It is very telling that a coin is not worth the time possessing if it slows down transaction. Elimination of the penny would actually see an increase in economical growth. Every year, hours upon hours are wasted counting, handling, and processing pennies. This time costs the nation, “over $15 billion per year” (Source B) according to the NACS. That money could be pumped into the economy, fulling businesses, but instead is being wasted on a useless coin. Entering the twenty-first century has seen less need for the time wasting penny.
In the beginning, when pennies were first created, they could actually buy tangible goods but not anymore.

Spending pennies has become increasingly more difficult since no arcade machine, parking meter, or vending machine accepts them. William Safire, author of Abolish the Penny, identifies that many pennies, almost 2/3s, just fall out of circulation getting trapped in couch cushions and sock drawers (Source C). These coins are dead weight on the American economy which renders them useless to produce. Nevertheless, the American government still make billions of pennies every year. Virtually wasting tax payers dollars which could be more effectively used in other avenues. Ever since it’s creation, the penny has been depressing in value each year, Before, pennies were made with 100% copper but that soon changed when the price of copper surpassed the pennies buying power. Jim Kolbe finds that, “since then they have been 97.5% zinc, with a little copper mixed in for appearance’s sake (Source A).” Even this change in materials however, does not hold the true value of the penny. It takes about 1.7 cents to produce one cent. In a world where the U.S. penny is comparable to the value of plastic, we have to ask, is it really worth keeping? The answer is no. Finding uses for pennies is fairly difficult but trying to abolish them might be a harder

task.
From the North to the South and the East to the West, countries all around the globe have sought to abolish the penny.

Surprisingly, the United States has attempted to pass bills discouraging the use of pennies. This effort, however, did not get far and the bill ended up in legislation limbo with an uncertain fate. Jim Kolbe, United Staes Representative, designed “a system under which cash transactions would be rounded up or down (Source A).” His goal was to slowly curb citizens away form handling pennies in transactions. By doing this, the penny would soon be dropped as a U.S. currency. Policies abolishing the penny, similar to Jim Kolbe’s proposal, resemble those of France and Britain. Foreign countries realized that keeping their penny counterparts was not financially resourceful. As the world progresses further into the twenty-first century, William Safire, author of Abolish the Penny, notes that, ”the U.S. was among the last of the industrialized nations to abolish the penny (Source C.” The United States likes to believe that they are at the forefront of change but in reality they resist change, pushing the envelope but ultimately falling back on their old ways. As a similar situation has arisen before, when a shift from imperial units to metric units fell due to the publics resentment to change. This pattern prevents the U.S. from making needed changes for itself. American allies, across the Atlantic, have experienced major success when getting rid of their version of

the penny. William Safire indicates, ”the Brits and the French…dumped their low-denomination coins 30 years ago (Source C).” It comes to no surprise that their economies did not worsen due to the change and charities did not see a drop in donations. These are main concerns for citizens who want to keep the penny. Abolishing the penny has not negative effects but it seems the Unites States is that last to realize that.