Worthlessness of the Penny

Daniel Zarling

For years the American population has been throwing away their pennies. An annual multimillion-dollar cost that the government insists on making, is just being thrown away hand over
fist throughout that same year. With the nation's debt growing rapidly and continually, I believe
that looking for avenues to cut costs should be a top priority. The penny has been viewed as a
second class coin through society for years and we believe it is time to move on from the penny.
The data and examples provided here will shine light on a cost that the taxpayers of America
incur that is just not needed. We believe that we can convince our peers and others to make a
difference and save this country some money for a change, while revealing a solution that
makes cents to everyone.

The design for the first penny was suggested by Benjamin Franklin. Throughout the
pennys lifespan, the design has always reflected the spirit of the nation. Suggested by Theodore
Roosevelt a new design was chosen in 1909. The new design, which depicted President Lincoln,
was designed by Victor David Brenner. This would be the first time that a real person would be
put on an American coin. The new design was met with much anticipation. The Brenners
request to make 100 pennies in the first print of the new design was declined by the Mint
officials, thinking it would be unfair to the people clamoring for them (Margolik, 2007).
Even today, the penny does serve some benefit in society. Although it is not commonly
used by the average American, a world without pennies will have some consequences. Without a
one cent coin, market prices will need to be rounded to the nickel. Merchants will likely round
up in their favor on everything, making many purchases more expensive (Headley). This would
be most likely to affect the lower class Americans, because they are more likely to make smaller
purchases, thus paying those extra cents much more often. Also, poorer people dont have as
much money to begin with, so any extra money they have to pay will hurt them. Another benefit
of the penny is that is provides funding for charitable organizations. Pennies, since they are
considered insignificant by most people, are often donated to charities. People have no issue
getting rid of their pennies, which is what the charities are taking advantage of (DiChristopher).
These same people may be less likely to throw out their nickels though.
Perhaps the biggest concern to our nation caused by the penny is the cost of production.
As we all know the penny is worth one cent, but it actually costs us more than that to produce.
The cost of the penny has been increasing for years, but the cost surpassed one cent just 11 years
ago. At this point it was not financially beneficial to produce the penny. Today, each penny costs
about 1.8 cents to produce (Penny Production, 2015). As a result, the US government loses over

$100 million dollars every year in producing pennies (Ingraham, 2014). Another problem with
this is that there is no known way to produce pennies at a lower cost. The Mint has already
reached a composition they consider to be the cheapest way to make a penny, and inflation will
only make the penny less and less sustainable.
Today the penny no longer is held in such high regard and costs more to make than its
face value. We need to find a solution to the money lost making pennies that would still honor
Lincoln.
We have all gotten tickets or had to pay fines that we dont agree with. Whether its rolling
through a stop light or being just a few minutes late to re-feed the meter, and we have had that
sinister thought to just roll into the courthouse with 20 lbs. of pennies just to prove our point.
Therein lies the problem with pennies, when we think of a way to make someones life difficult
with currency we go straight to the penny. What does that say about the penny? It says that they
are insulting. When we are trying to offend an individual or an institution we turn to the penny.
When Jordan Belfort stole millions from hard working individuals, he did so with penny stocks.
It has not only lost its value, but has turned into a running joke and evil payback method.
The penny has served its purpose. Back in 1870 it was reported that a penny could buy a
loaf of bread, in 1930, during the depression, a single penny could buy an apple or maybe a turn
on their favorite arcade game(Kaplan, 2013). Today the penny will buy you nothing. The best a
penny can provide you with is a wish while you toss it into a fountain, or pick one up off the
street, not because you need the money, but because you were told that heads up is good luck. So
is a penny even worth your time to pick up? We know that Bill Gates cant waste his time
picking up a $100 dollar bills because he would be losing money, but what about the average
college student working a part time job for minimum wage? Breaking it down mathematically,

and using Elle Woods famous bend and snap method of picking things up for time reference,
(2.4 seconds) we find that the amount of time to pick up a penny compared to the financial gain
is actually a loss in money and time. Not to mention the vulnerable position you find yourself in
while picking the penny up.
One prime example of getting rid of the penny is Canada. Recently in 2012 Canada
ceased production of the penny even though it is still accepted by retailers. Some retailers said
that they are worried of inflation, but since credit cards are widely used and accepted, prices
didnt need to change, only for cash payments. Prices also didnt need to change because online
purchasing is far overtaking any other process. However as the pennies are gradually taken out of
circulation, prices in store will need to be rounded, either down or up. According to CNN many
canadians stated that they considered the penny more of a nuisance than a useful coin. In
addition to the coin being a nuisance one of the main reasons they got rid of the penny was that it
cost 1.6 cents to make. In total this change will save roughly 11 million per year (Canada getting
rid of the penny to save costs, 2012). Along with Canada, Britain, France and Spain have also
gotten rid of their smallest unit of currency. Going even further, Australia, Denmark, New
Zealand, Norway and Sweden have also gone through the process of eliminating several of their
lesser denominations (Why has Canada killed off the penny, 2013). Many of these countries got
rid of the penny because inflation has drastically ruined its purchasing power making it useful on
its own, and a hassle to deal with. Some American businesses such as Mikes Bikes in California
have stopped accepting pennies. The main reasons they no longer accept them is that zinc, the
main material in pennies is harmful for the environment, and that it's also a waste of taxpayer
money (Buginas, 2011). Since Mikes Bikes have made this law they have not had any issues
about it with customers, and that it has been well received with them as well (Alter, 2011). It is

estimated that about 4,010,830,000 pennies were made in 2010 which leads to thousand tons of
zinc being mined, which is harmful to the environment. The leading mine for zinc is called Red
Dog Mine. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this mine is by far the
number 1 polluter (Alter, 2011). Especially for something as useless as the penny this is a huge
problem, the zinc could be better put to use in various other products, such as building materials.
In addition to this the ore required to mine for zinc contains other metals such as cadmium and
lead which are toxic. Zinc is also toxic, however it requires high doses, but around the zinc mines
it contaminates the water, soil and plants. The manufacturing of pennies also uses a lot of energy
through the various steps of production. One of the more alarming statistics is that transporting
pennies to banks along pumps roughly 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere a year
(Livingston, 2016).
With so many downsides to keeping the penny in circulation, its hard to find any true
benefit of the coin. Production of the useless one cent coin loses the United States government
an estimated $105 million annually (Ingraham, 2014). Our proposed solution for this waste of
US taxpayer money is to stop production of the penny completely and implement a recycling
program to take all pennies out of circulation and out of our environment. In the long run,
stopping the production of the penny would save the US government from losing nearly a billion
dollars annually. Research also suggests that the elimination of the penny would lower
transaction costs by an estimated $0.00025 per transaction (Whaples, 2010), slightly helping the
poor while taking the mass amount of environmentally harmful zinc coin out of circulation. Due
to the uselessness of the penny, people commonly dispose of their pennies by throwing them in
the trash, or even tossing them on the ground. Tossing your worthless pennies on the ground may
seem harmless but it can potentially kill your pets who see a penny on the ground and consume

it. Ingesting zinc can cause fatal anemia and gastric ulcerations in pets that inadvertently ingest
pennies made after 1982 (Jaslow, 2013). The extinction of the penny would eliminate Americas
most worthless coin, save the government billions of dollars, and make America safer for us and
our pets.

Margolick, D. (2007, February 11). Penny Foolish. Retrieved November 11, 2016, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/opinion/11margolick.html

Jaslow, R. (2013, April 23). Dog fatally poisoned by one penny. Retrieved November 9,
2016, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dog-fatally-poisoned-by-one-penny/

Ingraham, C. (2014, December 15). It cost 1.7 cents to make a penny this year, and 8
cents to make a nickel. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/15/it-cost-1-7-cents-to-make-a-pennythis-year-and-8-cents-to-make-a-nickel/

Whaples, R. (2010, December 19). Time to Eliminate the Penny from the U.S. Coinage
System: New Evidence. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from
http://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:33:y:2007:i:1:p:139-146

Canada getting rid of the penny to save costs. (2012, March 30). Retrieved November 11,
2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/30/business/canada-penny/index.html

Why has Canada killed off the penny? (2013, February 12). Retrieved November
11, 2016, from http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2013/02/economist-explainswhy-canada-killed-penny

Buginas, B. (2011, July 12). Bike Shop Decides Pennies Don't Make Sense.
Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://patch.com/california/berkeley/bike-shopdecides-pennies-dont-make-sense
Alter, L. (2011, June 17). Time To Ditch The Penny; It Is Useless and Bad For
The Environment. Retrieved November 11, 2016, from
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/time-to-ditch-the-penny-it-is-uselessand-bad-for-the-environment.html

Livingston, A. (2016, March 25). Should We Get Rid of the Penny? 8 Reasons
to Keep It vs Eliminate It. Retrieved November 11, 2016, from
http://www.moneycrashers.com/get-rid-penny-reasons/
Kaplan, M. (2013, August 21). Why ditching the penny makes cents. Retrieved
November 10, 2016, from
http://nypost.com/2013/08/31/why-ditching-the-penny-makes-cents/
Penny Production Cost: Chart/Graph. (2015, December 11). Retrieved November
11, 2016, from http://coincollectingenterprises.com/information/cost-to-make-apenny/penny-production-cost
DiChristopher, T. (2015, December 30). It's Time to Kill the Penny: Fmr US Mint
Director. Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/30/its-timeto-kill-the-penny-fmr-us-mint-director.html
Headley, S. (2016, February 19). The Great Penny Debate: Should We Keep
Producing the Penny? Retrieved November 11, 2016, from
http://coins.about.com/od/uscoins/i/penny_debate_2.htm