The one-cent piece that has been in used in the United States society for over two hundred years is commonly known as the penny. Overtime, it has changed appearance and values multiple times. By values, that does not just mean the importance of it to people, but how much it cost to produce. Even though, the penny has been apart of the United States for generations, the production of the coin should be discontinued because of the production cost and value to most people.
First and foremost, the manufacturing of the penny should be put to a halt because of the value to create it. In the New York Times article, “Penny Wise, or 2.4 Cents Foolish?” by Jeff Sommer, he acknowledges the fact that the mint (the industrial facility that manufactures
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the penny) states, “...each zinc and copper coin cost 2.41 cents to produce and distribute” (Sommer). A penny’s currency is only 1 cent, so this data shows that it cost more to produce it. It cost 1.41 cents more to make it, which does not seem bad, but eventually adds up. To add one, the same author also includes, “ The United States government… lost $60.2 million on the production and distribution of pennies in the 2011 fiscal year…” (Sommer). This tells that even though it is only 2.41 cents each penny, adding it all up together is a huge amount of money. Over time the ratio of the penny value to the production cost is low to extremely high. The government is paying a huge price for Americans to just put them away in drawers, on dressers, and lose them in their pockets. The amount of money of this production mounts drastically each year. It is necessary that the United States government ends the making of pennies because it is developing a huge loss of money because of production cost. Moreover, the further on development of the one-cent coin should be obliterated because of its value to people.
This means, how people actually use pennies. According to newspaper article, “Give a Penny-Save the Day!” by Ted Waterhouse, 8th grader Michael Cooper informed, “If you asked for my quarters, I would have said ‘no’ because I use them for video games. Pennies don’t really matter much…” The interview response gives intel that to people, pennies are somewhat worthless. The one cent is not as valuable or useful as to the quarter or any other coin. Americans still have many pennies already developed in their country, but it is not valuable enough to them to want to have more. Additionally, Jeff Sommer of New York Times article, “Penny Wise, or 2.4 Cents Foolish?” tells from Jim Flarherty, the Canadian finance minister that, “Pennies take up to much space on our dressers at home...We often store them in jars, throw them away in water fountains, or refuse them as change” (Sommer). In other words, people usually find small ways to use the coin just to get rid of them. They are not thrilled to see 10 pennies for change or the coin lying around all over their houses. The one cent coin is worth so little that Americans don’t bother to use them at all. In all, people find pennies useless making it unneeded to continue developing the …show more content…
penny. Even though some people may state that pennies are needed for that extra few cents when buying or just still want to use them in general, it is still not crucial to produce more pennies because the government will continue to find ways to get through not having to use pennies and still allowing people to use them.
For example, in New York Times article written by Jeff Sommer, “Penny Wise or 2.4 Cents Foolish?” he states, “they may want to keep using them indefinitely, and they can…” (Sommer). To explain, people who have grown attached to the penny are still able to use them in everyday life. The penny is not banned forever. The point of the stopped production of the penny is not stop creating an unnecessary amount of them. The author also states, “Electronic transactions will continue to include cents, while retail sales will be rounded up or down” (Sommer). To explain, if a cup of coffee is $2.01 cents than it would be rounded down to $2, while if something is $9.03 dollars then it would be rounded up to $9.05. This will benefit the people who would rather not have multiple pennies given to them as change. Instead nickels, dimes, and quarters will be used during transaction. But, people are still able to use pennies if they pleased. This idea of rounding up and down will help during payment so people don’t have to pay the few extra cents. The government is finding simple ways to prevent the use of pennies but are not banning them for good, making it unnecessary to continue
to production of the one-cent coin. In conclusion, the production of the penny should be terminated because of the cost to produce it and its value to the people of America. The penny is a significant part of the United States history, but it is nonessential to continue the legacy of its development. Most Americans would agree that the penny is of little worth, not just in value of money but also importance and usefulness.
Today, the small cent is once again too expensive to produce, and too irrelevant to bother with. Eliminate the cent and round all cash purchases to the nearest nickel. There will not be a gain or a loss from two more cents on the transaction. There won't be any dwelling over the situation. It is time for the United States of America to grow up and abolish this meaningless Lincoln penny. The penny has been a complete fiasco.
Throughout the past decade, costs of everything have skyrocketed. According to Source C, America used to have “five and dime stores;” now its a dollar store. In addition, no one can buy anything with just a penny anymore. The source also made a fair observation that these worthless zinc disks are, “behind chair cushions or at the back of sock drawers next to your old tin-foil ball. Quarters and dimes circulated; pennies disappear because they are literally more trouble than they are worth.” According to a New York Times article, “it takes nearly a dime today to buy what a penny bought back in 1950.” The penny is still stuck in the 1950s while America just keeps moving on. As stated by Mark Lewis in his concept of establishing a bill, “the bill would not ban pennies, but merely discourage their use by establishing a system under which cash transactions would be rounded up or down.” (Source A) This motive will help keep the America exceed and
Each month the U.S. mint produces one billion pennies a month. It would be better off to abolish the invaluable penny than to waste employees’ time in the government producing the little annoyances. Source C states how these 10 million shiny new useless items are a waste of time to the government workers. The employees could easily be more valuable if they were tracking counterfeiters. In addition, although the penny is a meaningful emblem of our president, Abraham Lincoln, we will still see his honorable face on the valuable five dollar bill. (Source G) The penny has lost its value as
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
Even though members of Congress are trying to ban to penny, Americans can spare the time to use them. In Ric Kahn’s
"As of 2014, the cost of making a penny was estimated at 1.7¢. So yeah, it almost costs two pennies just to make one penny- which makes no sense (pun intended)". Over time, many people have called for the U.S. to stop making pennies. Three reasons why are, we have a lot of coins and bills, not many people carry around cash, and making pennies can waste time, money, and minerals. That is why I believe the U.S. should stop making the penny.
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.
A buyer brings along with him snacks that he would like to purchase in a dollar store: chocolate chip cookies, a Pepsi, gummy bears, and a bag of chips. He waits in line, eager to consume this huge delight. It is his turn, and he hurriedly placed his treats on the counter, waiting anxiously to pay immediately. The cashier replies to him, “The price will be $5.99, sir.” The buyer takes out five one-dollar bills and four quarters. Not an instance did he ever use a penny in this case, which he thought was useless and meaningless. As you can see, the penny has become quite worthless and diminished in purpose. Many citizens would prefer to round up and pay rather than spend time and look in their
In addition, There are many reasons why the penny should go out of existants because, the penny costs more to make than its initial value. However the penny only costs 1.8 cents to reproduce while the nickel costs 9.4 cents. Why could we get rid of an object that can help fundraisers or an object that can be made in another metal. The penny is also an important item of American culture. In the article from a general interest magazine published in 2014 titled ¨ The Ever- Changing Penny¨. Maria Story explains some of the changed the penny
Not everyone agrees that the penny should be totally eliminated. No matter what your stance the penny debate is real and the United States has to make a decision one way or another.My stance is no, we don’t need the penny anymore. You can’t buy anything with it like you can with a courter. Pennies aren’t needed the price might be 0.99 cents but we have tax so it’s rounded up.I know some people collect them because they have been around forever but, they are not needed. I feel there shouldn’t because we lose money making it, it would be easier to round up or down and it takes a lot of time to count.
Robert Whalpes has done a study on the effects of getting rid of the penny. According to Dr. Robert Whalpes, “His study says that the time wasted counting pennies could add up to over $700 million per year nationwide. To a retail business, time is money because many retail businesses pay their employees by the hour, if the retail clerk and customer spend just a 2.5 second per transaction counting pennies; those seconds could start to add up. Those seconds add up to an estimated $700 million in wages that businesses pay retail clerks to count pennies” (source two). In addition to retailers paying clerks to count pennies, the penny has not been used on foreign military bases for over 30 years. According to Chris Ward, a spokesman for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, “Pennies are too heavy and are not cost-effective to ship”. This evidence supports the claim that the United States should get rid of the penny because it is costing retailer money and the army has stopped using the penny with little to no financial problems on their