Who among us remembers heading down to the grocery store and picking up a postcard for a penny? No? A stick of gum? There’s just not too much out there that can be bought with those little scraps of copper-plated zinc lying around taking up space in your spare change jar. Personally, I keep them handy for when I want to buy a cup of coffee and my total’s just a wee bit north of a nice round number. But let’s face it, there’s very little that screams “Convenience!” in your ear when you load up your coin purse and/or pockets with a bunch of pennies. That goes for any kind of coin really, but I find carrying around five nickels is much more preferable then 25 pennies. So really, there’s nothing particularly useful that can be done with pennies on their own without hurting your back lugging them around in a duffel bag, besides spitefully paying a parking ticket. The way I see it, the time has come to do away with this outmoded chunk of metal and upgrade to a better business model.
The fact remains that this coin isn’t just a problem for the consumer. I’m sure many of you have heard the rumor that it costs more to produce a penny than it is actually worth. This has been true for the past few years, and it’s only getting more expensive. Nowadays, it costs the U.S. government precisely 2.41 cents to produce a single penny, compared to the nickel’s 11.18 cents. This is not to mention that the time spent digging around in registers and pockets for pennies at a store wastes time, and although it’s a pretty small amount it adds up. While it’s hard to quantify exactly how much money is wasted as a result, estimates range from $300 million on the low end to $1 billion on the high end. Either way, that’s a lot of cash being lost in the private sector; about $3.65 per person for the higher estimate. And who has time to go around collecting 365 pennies?
This all pales in comparison to the fact that many people, rather than deal with the clutter of this copper monstrosity, throw them out. That is correct; many are tossed into the trash can never to be seen again. Unless you’re keen on looking through other people’s garbage for pennies, I guess. While I disagree with throwing away perfectly legal tender, I can see the logic these people exhibit. Their grandparents may protest (a penny saved is a penny earned and whatnot), but that’s probably because they’re still thinking of pennies in terms of the 1970s when a penny was worth as much as a nickel is today. The United States has discontinued coins before for the same reasons there would be for the penny (that would be the half-cent piece), except they were still worth more than a penny is today.
So what’s stopping us from going the way of the Canadians and announcing that we’re no longer making pennies? Well, for the most part, it’s an unpopular course of action. I can appreciate that. I like Abe Lincoln as much as the next guy, and there’s no denying that the penny is probably our most iconic coin and therefore part of our national identity. However, this doesn’t pragmatically justify the waste of convenience and money that is the penny. I doubt very much that if all the pennies in the world simply disappeared, there would be much to mourn over. I, for one, would be glad for the obnoxious jangling weight gone from my pockets.
Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
