Penny Argument Essay

The penny was the first form of currency in the United States, it was first minted in 1787. Since the first minting in 1787 “Over 300 billion one-cent coins, with 11 different designs, have been minted since 1787”(pennies.org). The first pennies were made of one hundred percent copper and the metal composition is going to drastically change over the years, by 1856 the composition of the penny changed to eighty-eight percent copper and twelve percent nickel. In 1864 the composition of the penny changed again to ninety-five percent copper and five percent Zinc and stayed that way up until 1982 when the composition of the penny change to what the penny is made today ninety-seven and five tenths and two and five tenths copper plated zinc. There

In 2016 each penny cost 1.7 cents to produce so to produce one dollar it costs a dollar seventy. Minting these lower denomination coins cost the government more than what they are actually worth. The U.S Mints have tried to use cheaper metals to be more cost effective at making the coinage, but they are still not able to bring the cost of the coin to what the coins are actually worth. “ In 2014, the Mint shipped out more pennies than nickels, quarters, and dimes put together – over 7.9 billion coins. That adds up to a loss of over $55 million for that year alone”(moneycrashers.org). That is 55 million dollars lost in that year alone because the production costs outweigh their face value, the penny isn’t the only coin that costs more money than their face value to produce the nickel costs eight cents to produce. Compared to the penny which costs a dollar seventy to produce a dollar's worth, the nickel costs a dollar sixty to produce a dollar's

The first reason that the U.S would keep the penny is that they do keep prices low if the U.S were to get rid of the penny all prices would be rounded to the nearest nickel which would result in losses to the consumer up to three cents. The merchants would always raise the price to benefit themselves rather than the consumer, there is no way to make these business owners round down because they would have changed the price before the concept and the rounding would be initiated. The statistics also show that “ incomes under $10,000 non-whites and Hispanics, and those adults with less than 12 years of education pay for more than half of their of their total purchases in cash.” Getting rid of the penny would hurt the lower class more because they use more money for purchasing, this is an unforeseen circumstance that will have a great effect on the lower