Pennies that were once created to hold a value of one cent are today more trouble than they are worth and should be abolished for numerous reasons. “Can nobody rid America of this cooper-coated scourge?” (Source A). The penny that “Once, it had swagger” (Source A), is slowly declining in popularity over the years as individuals grow less fond of them. The amount of pennies that are lost and remain unused is rising quickly in our population.
When you are at a cash register purchasing items and receive pennies back as change how many times do you donate your pennies the small boxes for charities because they are not important or seem useless to you? While donating a couple of pennies is an easy task for most, donating a nickel or even a quarter
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If pennies are no longer being used as often, are they making our economy lose money? The amount of supplies, electricity to run machines, and labor for those working can add up to be costlier than the economy has profited from money earned back from pennies. If the U.S. take away the pennies they will be saving money from no longer needing the supplies and as many employees and machines. Individuals have tried to brainstorm ways of getting giving the penny a new name for say to make it more popular or try to bring it back into use. Many have considered changing the picture of the penny to maybe try and give things a change, although this could be a good idea the changing of design is not going to differ the amount of money the penny is worth or how often they are used (Source G). The only solution to solving the issue of losing money in the process of making pennies is that they actually become popular again, with taking people opinions on pennies into consideration this outcome is unlikely to happen. Thence, the best solution is to abolish the penny so the economy can save its money and use it to better our
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
Even though members of Congress are trying to ban to penny, Americans can spare the time to use them. In Ric Kahn’s
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
They became more dead than alive, so people began to melt and sell. The death of the penny would have ended there but with the government realizing that they weren't worth minting and happy that its people were removing they became circulation which according to google means that “movement to and from or around something, especially that of fluid in a closed system.” So they made the melting of U.S. coins illegal and continued making 4 billion pennies each year. The pennies instead did the exact opposite by being a literal dead weight on everyone's cash.
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.
Back in the 1900’s kids all over would be so grateful to find a penny. Doing so meant they got to run to the local candy store. William Safire, author of “Abolish the Penny” agrees with the notation of abolishing the penny. In Safire's article he makes a strong claim stating that you, “can’t buy anything with a penny any more” (Safire). Expanding on that claim, there is no point in keeping something around that is taking a resource of zinc and copper, when the resource is being wasted to the garbage. Back in the day it would be absurd to throw such a useful coin away. There is no real need for the coin so keeping it around is simply
If you check your pockets, how many of you have pennies in them? Not many people I assume, that is because most people don't carry around pennies anymore. Denver Nicks from Time.com says
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
Pennies have caused more trouble than they are worth (Source C). People that use pennies to purchase items, waste their time and this action can further
For instance, in the article “Abolish the Penny (Source 3)”, it clearly states, “Where do they go? Two-thirds of them immediately drop out of circulation, into piggy banks or –as The Time’s John Tierney noted five years ago –behind chair cushions or at the back of sock drawers next to your old tin-foil ball.” Adding on, many people view the penny as a useless currency, and they even leave it in hidden places around their own home. The reason why pennies are sometimes located in piggy banks or at the back of sock drawers is that citizens see no purpose in obtaining them. In other words, it seems as if the penny has lost its fame and glory ever since other forms of currency have been established, such as quarters, dimes, and dollar bills. As explained by William Safire, quarters and dimes seem to circulate more often than pennies, and pennies “disappear” due to their worthless value and troubles. Specifically, the reign of quarters and dimes has overtaken the significance of pennies, and as time passes by, the term “penny” might not even be mentioned anywhere around the United States. In addition, more people nowadays tend to use quarters and dimes for due change, leaving the penny to become less essential for our needs. As stated in Source 3, the British and French have already abandoned their low-value coins approximately 30 years ago. This demonstrates the probable
The distribution of pennies charges for more than it is worth. As reported by, The Ever- Changing Penny “ it cost the U.S. Mint more than 2.4 cents to produce one penny.” (Story). To further explain, it would be ridiculous to create a penny that costs more than it is worth. It will create more of a complication for taxpayers because they are the ones paying for pennies over 1 cent while they should not even have to pay a dime. Also stated from Pennywise, or 2.4 Cents Foolish “ … the taxpayers-lost $60.2 million on the production and distribution of pennies…”(Sommer). This demonstrates that civilians are losing tremendous amounts of money for a coin that is 1 cent. Whereas if they discontinue the production of pennies then this would have never come out of your wallet.
“‘ Pennies take up too much space in our dressers at home ,’ Jim Flaherty, the Canadian finance minister, said in a speech last month. A persuasive government brochure put it this way :” we often store them in jars, throw them away in water fountains or refuse them as change.’” This evidence is saying that people very rarely even use pennies we don't like carrying them around because they take up space and are heavy and if we do have them we often just throw them in a fountain or tell a sales clerk to “keep the change.” This proves my position because pennies cost more to produce and all we do is just throw them away or store them in a jar and if you do ever cash them in all you get is a couple dollars. This supports my claim because pennies are very neglected and are just thrown away and they cost far to much to produce just throw them away. Pennies should no longer be produced because people just throw them
Due to most people believing the penny is useless, they are more than happy to give them away to charities who actually need money. For example, a middle school raised over $3,000 in a week by creating a fundraiser which asks for student’s pennies. “if the United States eliminates the penny, charities will suffer because people will pay more at the store and feel they have less to give those in need.” (Source 4) People think pennies are worth little so they have no problem giving their pennies away. Also, charities who receive pennies would lose a large amount of money if pennies were no longer
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.