The Cost Of The Penny Essay

“The one cent piece, commonly referred to as the ‘penny’, has been a part of United States history for over two hundred years.” It’s time for those two hundred years, and counting, to be over. The penny needs to stop being produced to best help the consumer and the government. In “Penny Anti” by John Fund, the economical reasons for getting rid of the penny are listed, as well as alternative solutions to the one-cent piece. In the second article, “The Many Faces of the Penny,” by J. Wendell Shelton, there is a backstory of how the penny we know today came to be. In source three, “The Cost of a Penny,” a letter written by David R. Carroll, the author begs readers to abolish the penny for numerous reasons. And finally, in “Save the Penny--Save the Day!” by an anonymous middle schooler, the student talks about how charities will suffer without the penny. All of the passages believe in the usefulness, or lack thereof, of the penny. However, both articles make valid points for what should be done with our one-cent piece.
In “Penny Anti,” by John Fund, the author explains how our neighboring northern country, Canada, has already cut the production of pennies from its budget. He believes that America should take this route as well. “Pennies are more of a burden than
to help us… the Treasury loses more than $100 million per year on the coin’s production.” Based upon this quote, and the title, it can already be inferred that the author does not support the making of pennies in America. Despite the fact that “‘the purpose of the monetary system is to facilitate exchange, the penny no longer serves that purpose.’” The penny we know today has drifted away from purpose, and now has become a souvenir to collect and never use again. Besides, pennies directly and negatively affect the consumer. If you were to total out the average cost pennies have on you, it would not only cost the $100 million in overall taxes, but an additional $50 a year would be lost from every person based upon the time they would waste dealing with pennies. “Penny Anti” simply sums it up; pennies are detrimental towards the future of this country.
The opposite side of this argument, “The Many Faces of the Penny,” by J. Wendell Shelton, goes into acute detail on the history of the one-cent piece. He provides an abundance of small facts that show how the penny has been there as the country has grown. However, the article fails to give factual evidence on how the penny positively impacts our country, besides the vaguely opinionated and heavily repeated phrase “the penny’s sentimental value.” No matter the penny’s subjective value, it is fiscally and productively ineffective, and should therefore be discontinued as soon as possible. Shelton declined to even mention the opposing side, instead choosing to describing the different images printed on the different sides. While the penny does depict a significant part of history, it would be silly to expect the government and taxpayers to continue to fund such an inadequate part of our monetary system just to admire it’s looks.
In “The Cost of a Penny,” the author, David R.
Carroll, exhorts about how unnecessary the penny is. He uses words such as “complete and utter waste” and “frivolous” to describe his feelings on paying for the penny. He also states, “the Department of Defense...abolished the use of pennies at overseas military bases over 30 years ago because pennies were considered ‘too heavy’ and ‘not cost-effective to ship.’” He goes on to describe that, “when the nation’s military forces won’t even use pennies, that should say something about their worth.” Carroll could not be more correct in this statement. If this nation’s own military has chosen to not use the penny as a form of currency, this country should follow
suit.
Finally, the article “Save the Penny--Save the Day!” walks readers through a charity drive where students brought in pennies to raise money towards a worthwhile charity. The article claims that people would be less likely to bring in money if the penny was removed from our monetary system, because people would have less money to give. However, “The Cost of a Penny” states that, in order to best meet the consumer market, businesses would round down to the nearest nickel, meaning 99 cents would become 95. Furthermore, not only pennies are brought in during penny drives, meaning they won’t go away if pennies do.
In conclusion, it’s financially irresponsible to continue producing the penny, and it’s also unproductive. Therefore, the one-cent piece, also known as the penny, should be discontinued in the best interest of the consumer and the government.