The history of the penny dates back to 1787. The official name for the penny was the “one cent piece” but people kept referring to it by the name of the British coin equivalent , the pence, and the name stuck. In 1792, the United States Mint was created to regularly manufacture these newly designed pieces of currency: the penny, the quarter, dime, and nickel, and put them into circulation. The original batch of pennies produced contained 11,178 pennies made entirely of 100% copper. The first penny created in 1787 was called the Fugio cent. These pennies were each five times heavier than today’s pennies. On one side it had a sun and sundial with the saying, “Mind Your Own Business” and on the other side it had a chain with thirteen links …show more content…
representing the original thirteen colonies. It was designed by Benjamin Franklin and he is credited with coming up with the phrase, “A penny saved is a penny earned”. At first, the images on the penny were meant to represent concepts.
For example the penny minted in 1793 had a lady with flowing hair to represent Lady Liberty. It was not until 1909 that the penny represented a famous person when Teddy Roosevelt introduced the penny with Abraham Lincoln’s face to honor his 100th birthday. This Abraham Lincoln penny was the first penny to contain the words “In God We Trust”. Since the original penny in 1787, 300 billions pennies have been minted. However, in 1815, the mint temporarily stopped producing pennies due to the shortage of copper resulting from the War of 1812. Throughout 228 years of production of the penny, it has been changed to meet the newly forming wants of the people and the …show more content…
economy. Since its creation, there have been 16 different designs on the penny as well as numerous changes to its composition. The first change to the penny’s composition was to 88% copper and 12% nickel which was first minted in 1857 with the penny called The Flying Eagle. In 1859, the Indian Cent was introduced when the daughter of the penny’s designer borrowed an Indian chief’s headdress so she could pose as an Indian princess. In 1864, during the American Civil War, the penny’s makeup was changed to 95% copper and 5% zinc. It was changed based off of an order from Congress and the penny was given the designation of “legal tender” by the Coinage Act of 1864. These pennies were minted during the Civil War primarily to pay union soldiers. During World War II steel pennies coated with zinc were used because of copper shortages but they were eventually discontinued because they rusted easily and looked like dimes. The penny’s current composition, dating back to 1982, is a zinc core with copper wrapped around the outside. The current penny’s dimension is 19 millimeters wide and it weighs 2.5 grams. It is made of 97.5% zinc and only 2.5% copper. Although the penny has made lots of progress to lessen its production cost, it still continues to be debated as to whether it should be kept or not. Many countries like Canada, Sweden, Australia all have stopped production of the penny.
Some of the reasons the penny has not been discontinued in the United States is the penny has a rich history. Also, the penny used to hold more value before inflation caused prices to rise. In our interview with Mr. Stevens, he told us he used to be able to go to a store and buy candy for a penny. Then after we asked him if he thought it should be discontinued and he said no because he had a connection to it. This connection is common throughout people his age which is one reason making a decision is so hard. The Mint is considering other means of coin production, but industries with coin operated machine say it would cost them billions to re-fit machines to accept altered coins. The government has been taking steps to reduce the the gap between price to make the penny and the price of the
coin. Since 2011 the Mint has reduce the cost to produce the penny by about one third. In 2011 it costed 2.4 cents to make, and now it costs 1.7 cents. Although big improvements have been made, the price to make will probably not go lower than face value because there are not any known methods for doing that. The penny is not unique in the fact that it costs more to make than its face value; the nickel costs 8 cents to produce. However, the quarter and dime both cost less to make than their face value, more so than the penny and nickel takeaway. The government makes around 289 million on coin production each year, making an argument for the people who want to keep the penny.
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.
In 2001 United States Representative Jim Kolbe introduced legislation to Congress to eliminate the penny coin in most transactions. Although this legislation failed, there are still consistent calls to eliminate the penny as the smallest-denomination United States coin. Our nation is founded on passed traditions. Any American can look basically in any place to understand why America has thrived for centuries. Every tradition, sculpture, monument, or artifact gives Americans history about what has occured. The country struggles to destroy any of these long kept traditions. Although some traditions are completely relevant, the use of the penny is of little worth today. Whether the penny is rolling around in your pocket or resting at the
In 2001, United Sates Representative Jim Kolbe proposed a legislation to Congress to dispose the penny coin from the currency of America because of its small impact. Although his legislation failed, most people currently argue about the penny’s existence today. Even though the penny stood as a mark of history, it is useless and should be eliminated from America’s currency.
They must be eliminated, but you might think. Wont prices go up and charities lose money? No. new zealand , finland, and the netherlands stopped using the one cent or the one cent euro and noticed no change in cost instead they round to the nearest five cent. Anyways the US has already gone through this process without trouble like the half cent it was eliminated in 1857 because it was too little worth. Another thing is that everyone loves lincoln so they might think that his monument might be taken away but taking away the penny won't take away his memory we will still have him on our five dollar bill which won't go away. Yes you might think it is unpatriotic or disrespectful to take away lincoln but the us military is not using pennies because they have already realized that pennies are useless and not needed so they round to the nearest five cent. So basically pennies just aren't worth making, they waste people's time and they don't even work as money like they are supposed to, and because of inflammation lose more value every year making them making everything
The debate of eliminating pennies or maintaining pennies is a current focus in the United States. Many people think that eliminating the penny would positively influence the United States because the government would not have to devote millions of dollars for pennies. While many other people think that eliminating the pennies would negatively influence the United States because of the rounding tax that would be introduced after the pennies are eliminated. I think that we should continue to keep on manufacturing the pennies because the penny shows how it impacted the English language, it can also help causes that can save lives, and pennies can keep the government from creating the rounding tax which can cost consumers millions of additional dollars.
Have a good look at the penny, what do you see? You probably see nothing but a copper coated circular poor valued cent. Little does everyone know pennies have been around longer than before their grandparents, even their great-grandparents! Matter of fact, it was around so long ago that Abraham Lincoln’s face was not the first design on the penny. I ask that you take the time to consider the American penny’s worth. Without the people’s belief in its value, the penny will be abolished. I see people every day throwing away a penny rather than to put it in their pocket and save it for future uses. Yes a penny is "outdated, almost worthless, bothersome and wasteful" (Safire) piece of junk, but it's has an economic, cultural, and historical significance to the United States of America. The problem is that nobody pays attention to that, and that gives pennies the image of no value. Three good solutions to show the pennies worth include: tolls and vending machines accepting the coin, more charities to keep their penny drives, and historical evidence of what the penny mean to America so that it can be passed on to the future generations.
In fact there are many people that oppose abolishing the penny. In source E it states “that 62 percent of people oppose abolishing the penny that has a income less then $25,000 a year.” If the penny was to be abolish then the nickel would be the lowest coin in amount of money. If the nickel was the lowest amount of money there was then that means the purchase prices of items sold would increase. The prices would increase on items sold because the penny would not be in circulation to allow the customer to pay with the correct amount of change. Instead of being able to pay $3.47 for a kids meal at MacDonalds the customer would have to pay $3.50 for the kids meal. With the increasing prices of merchandise sold in stores there could be a budget upset for many families that have to follow a tight budget. Many families have to follow a tight budget to be able to provide for there families. With a tight budget there is no room for the prices of merchandise to increase due to losing the penny. Every penny counts when it comes to having a tight budget and providing for your
Millions of Americans work full-time, day in and day out, making near and sometimes just minimum wage. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them in part by the welfare claim, which promises that any job equals a better life. Barbara wondered how anyone can survive, let alone prosper, on $6-$7 an hour. Barbara moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, working in the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon realizes that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts and in most cases more than one job was needed to make ends meet. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all of its glory, consisting of
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.
There is a side to this debate where the penny could win and stay in circulation. To start, the penny has been around for years and years and it has seemed to work for this whole time. This is true, the penny has been around and can be used still in everyday life. The turn side of this, though valid, is with systems changing is is becoming more and more rare for the penny to have a true dire need. One other strong reason to keep the penny alive would be charity. Charity relies on those people who do not necessarily care enough to keep the pennies t drop them off in the donation box. That though, has a simple solution. If the penny were no longer around nickels and dimes would begin to be the change customers and users are no longer wanting. Charity then in result
The penny has been in America for centuries, it's a sentimental object for Americans everywhere. However many have debated on whether or not it should be eliminated or continue being made. The penny should be preserved because it is apart of American culture, given to charity, and keeps items cheap.
There is definitely no purpose and meaning in continuing the creation of these worthless objects. All they do to the United States is cause trouble, and they are clearly a bothersome to uphold them in our possession since they barely contain any value. Our economy would be fit with just dimes, quarters, and nickels as our coins. Abraham Lincoln, who was the president represented in this penny, would disapprove having his reputation and honor shown in a futile currency. The government needs to stop producing pennies. They create a loss of money rather than a profit; therefore, these copper cents need to be gone from our economy. What other choice is available? What can these pennies do in order to redeem their glory? It is nearly impossible to convince residents to use pennies once again. The penny has lost its value, and their dignity has become faint to us. It is time to eliminate pennies–for
In today's century pennies has no purchasing power,pennies are useless and should be abolished.Pennies are not worth the same amount as they did before. Pennies are made out of copper,but if we use the copper for a more valuable coin that could be utilized,states will get rich and have a beneficial in the economy."Arizona is rich in copper...bigger percantage of the large-denomination coins that might be more heavily used it the penny were discontinue."(Source A) If pennies would be "discountinue" the states that have copper would make coins that are in use and beneficial for the people.For example, quarters,dimes,and nickels are worth more than a penny and are in use and acceptable in stores or even vending machines.Making,"A system under which cash transactions would be rounded up and down"(Source A) would be an advantage for the United States.This is a system that would help the stores by not wasting time counting pennies.When,"replacing paper dollars with long-lasting $1 coins"(Source A) would benifit the economy by making dollar coins which will be more beneficial than an ordinary penny.
I, and many others, believe there are countless pieces of evidence that justify getting rid of the penny. Some of the most important facts about this issue lie in our own country's treasury. The U.S. spends between 1.6 and 2.4 cents to produce a single penny- that’s more than what a penny is actually worth! And with the U.S. making 4.3 billion pennies a year according to the article Penny Anti by John Fund, that wasted money really adds up. Sure, the penny is a large part of American history, and some believe that if we get rid of the penny we will also be ridding of a piece of American culture, but it’s not like it will cause the penny and the history behind it to be forgotten!
These hardships do not have to be faced though if the penny stays within America’s currency. In fact, there are only benefits to its continuation. Some would disagree with that, as people like William Safire deem the coin “worthless” (Source C). A penny may only be worth one cent, but when saved with other pennies, it can total to large sums. Edmond Knowles saved about 90 pennies a day for 38 years, which totaled to $13,084.59 (Source B). The saying ‘a penny saved is a penny earned’ is reflected in Knowles and his belief in the value of a