Do you like getting rich one penny at a time? If so then you should love pennies. Regardless, the penny remains in the United States currency. Pennies are up for debate whether they are still needed in our currency. The manufacture of pennies should be continued in the United States. First of all, pennies can add up to be a great deal of wealth. According to source 3, “A penny is not worth much by itself.” If you were saving up to buy something you really want. You could save all pennies you see. This will eventually add up and you can get what you have been waiting for. Also, as stated in source 1, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” If you were just living paycheck to paycheck. You could have some extra money to spend on some fun. All you
We should keep the penny because it has history, in fact it was “the first currency authorized by the United States” (Lewis). The penny no longer has the value that it used to have, but it is still necessary to make purchases as accurate as possible. The penny may seem like a waste of time to many Americans because it takes so long for cashiers to make change, forcing people to wait in line, but it is actually worth the time spent. The penny helps with keeping prices a cent lower, and therefore stimulating the economy. The penny is important to many people who need the money and for whom pennies still have value.
In 2001 United States Representative Jim Kolbe introduced legislation to Congress to eliminate the penny coin in most transactions. Although this legislation failed, there are still consistent calls to eliminate the penny as the smallest-denomination United States coin. Our nation is founded on passed traditions. Any American can look basically in any place to understand why America has thrived for centuries. Every tradition, sculpture, monument, or artifact gives Americans history about what has occured. The country struggles to destroy any of these long kept traditions. Although some traditions are completely relevant, the use of the penny is of little worth today. Whether the penny is rolling around in your pocket or resting at the
Do we really need pennies? The story of the penny starts in 1792; it came with several different coins including the dime, nickel, quarter, and half penny. The pennies were first made out of 100% copper, but the price of the copper went up, because of inflation, the power of the penny went down. The cause of the mint is to reduce the amount of copper in pennies first from 100% to 95% but then to 5% copper and 95% zinc. Despite the debate in 2006, the value of metal on older pennies rose over one year.
According to source #4, it states, “The one cent has influenced our language, giving us a number of idioms, such as ‘a penny for your thoughts’ (a way to ask what someone is thinking) and ‘not one red cent’ (meaning no money at all).” This is significant because it shows that the penny has affected the English language, giving the language more idioms to use. It is often said that pennies should not be manufactured anymore due to their excessive cost of manufacturing and distribution. Yes, numerous people do acknowledge that fact, but the government can also propose that pennies are to use inexpensive metal, like steel, which makes the entire coin industry save money and has the cost of coins to be cheaper to make.
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
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
All this means is that because pennies are worth so little, when a penny drive is organized within a large group of people, with everyone pitching in, the money raised will add up fast. According to Ted Waterhouse’s article “Give a Penny -- Save the Day!” he observed a good example of this principle in action; “Last week, Washington Middle School (WMS) hosted its annual Penny Drive for Charity. Students from every grade brought in bags and jars for pennies, and, with everyone’s assistance, they raised over $3,000 in one week!” The main point that the article has clearly made is “because they are worth so little, people don’t mind donating them to charity,” and I couldn’t have said it
While the penny is only worth one cent what is it worth to millions of Americans who had relatives fighting in the civil war, or that were slaves in that time period? Pennies mean more than just currency it has a very important value in history. Yes the penny may be the lowest type of currency here in the U.S, but its sentimental value means more to Americans than the value to businesses.
In America’s modern day economy, the penny is very useless and irrelevant in our society today. As source C states, “The time has come to abolish the outdated, almost worthless, bothersome, and wasteful penny.” There is not one item that can be purchased with a penny anymore (Source C). As source C states, “it takes nearly a dime to buy what a penny bought back in 1950.” Stores such as the Dollar Store prove how the cheapest items you can purchase are with only a dollar, not a cent. Pennies are shoved out of the economic picture by credit cards and because of the modern-day technology, there are even self-service machines that help convert coins into paper money (Source B). Furthermore, pennies are easily tossed into piggy banks or appear behind chair cushions. It is not used the same way as it was before.
There is definitely no purpose and meaning in continuing the creation of these worthless objects. All they do to the United States is cause trouble, and they are clearly a bothersome to uphold them in our possession since they barely contain any value. Our economy would be fit with just dimes, quarters, and nickels as our coins. Abraham Lincoln, who was the president represented in this penny, would disapprove having his reputation and honor shown in a futile currency. The government needs to stop producing pennies. They create a loss of money rather than a profit; therefore, these copper cents need to be gone from our economy. What other choice is available? What can these pennies do in order to redeem their glory? It is nearly impossible to convince residents to use pennies once again. The penny has lost its value, and their dignity has become faint to us. It is time to eliminate pennies–for
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
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.
The penny costs 1.4 cents to manufacture each time at the mint. This is causing the mint to lose money for the treasury. Last year, the mint earned $730 million dollars in profit. Many mint officials claim the estimation will be about $45 million due to the cost of metals made in pennies. Our country is continuing to have a very strong economy with the stock markets going up. The penny might affect these benefits from the rapid production of these coins. Copper and zinc are the main elements that compose the penny. With the rising costs of these elements, the economy may back up a bit. Because of this, the U.S. mint should reduce their penny production.
Pennies have been around for hundreds of years, making it hard for us to imagine a life without them. We use them when we go to the store, find them in between the couch cushions, and put them in our piggy bank whenever we are trying to save up for something we want. Pennies are in our everyday lives, and getting rid of them would change so much. The U.S should not get rid of the penny because it will round everything up to a nickel, it will cost even more money to make a nickel, and it would cause difficulties to charities around the world.
Indeed, the loss the U.S. Treasury faces is enough to justify the decision to cancel the minting of the penny. According to David R. Carroll in the Prairie News Register, “A penny currently costs the United States government 2.4 cents to mint” (Para. 1). That is a loss of 1.4 cents per penny, or more than double the value of the penny! Although an extra 1.4 cents may not seem like much, the total loss is approximately $100 million dollars annually. Since the money loss is so great, the eradication of the penny is urgently needed.