Penny Argumentative Essay

What is the point of the penny? It costs more than it actually costs. It takes up way too much space. We either store them in jars, and never think about them again, or we throw them away into the nearest fountain. And their value is so small to the point that if you had 10,000 of them, the highest you would get would be $100. So what's their point? The answer is nothing! They are absolutely and utterly worthless beyond belief. Therefore, only one conclusion is reasonable. The government should discontinue the production of the penny in the US.

Pennies are both a waste of time and money. The penny actually costs more than its actual value, contary to popular belief. According to Jeff Sommer, the penny costs 2.41 cents to make, despite its value of one cent. This means that the penny literally costs 1.41 cents more to make than its value to spend. At first, this

doesn't seem much. However, in 2011 alone, 60.2 million dollars were wasted by the United States government on the production and distribution of pennies. Additionally, in 2009 and 2010, 19.8 million dollars and 24.7 million dollars, respectively, were wasted on the production and distribution of pennies. So for just one three year period, 104.7 million dollars were wasted on one-cent compounds of zinc and copper.

Additionally, the US is one of few countries which still even use its lowest-denominated coin.

Countries that no longer use its lowest-denominated coin include Australia, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, Brazil, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and now Canada. These countries have adapted well to the change. They now enjoy more space as well, as Jim Flaherty, the Canadian financial minister, implies, "Pennies take up too much space on our dressers at home." As well as countries, foreign military bases don't use pennies as well. As Chris Ward, spokesman for the Army and Air Force, says,[Pennies are] "too heavy and not cost-effective to ship." During purchases and transactions at the countries and foreign military bases, if there is one or two cents that require the use of pennies, the cost is simply rounded to the nearest fifth to accomodate for nickels, rather than pennies. For example, if an item cost $7.07, the seller can choose to round it up to $7.10 or $7.05. These countries and foreign military bases have not suffered any dire consequences so far, and are performing quite well without the

penny.

However, some might say that with pennies gone, prices might round up to the nearest fifth rather than down to the nearest fifth. Mr. Velde, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who is working this year at the Bank of France, says that this is not so. "But in a competitive market," he says, "you might well see price decreases. In a place like New York, a 99-cent price of pizza might go down to 95 cents rather than $1 to avoid crossing that higher price threshold." In other words, there should be no price affect, besides a probable price decrease. Additionally, others might say that finding a way to make pennies cheaper is a better approach then totally eliminating them. The US government authorized the Treasury to change the composition of the penny in 1982, from 95% zinc and 5% copper to 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper. Steel, used in World War II for pennies, may be substituted next. However, according to Source 1, it says, "But why stop at the penny? It’s not the only American coin that costs more than it’s worth. Each nickel costs 11.18 cents to produce and distribute, the mint says, at a loss to taxpayers of $56.5 million in the last fiscal year. In its 2013 budget proposal, the Obama administration has asked for authority to alter the composition of the nickel, too." In other words, if we improve the penny, we may feel the need to improve all the other coins as well, wasting millions of dollars.

The penny is the biggest waste of zinc, copper, and money the US Treasury has ever produced. It wastes space, wastes millions of dollars, and wastes time trying to count it. There is simply no point in the US continuing its production and distribution. There is only one solution to the penny problem, and it isn't changing its composition or such. As Mr. Velde bluntly, but accurately, says it, "The whole situation is ridiculous. The serious, simple solution is to do away with the penny."