Our penny is 97.5% zinc core and 2.5% copper plating. As of Aug. 9, 2007, the price of copper is $3.50 per pound and zinc $1.57 per pound. At these prices the pre-1982 cent contains 2.34 cents worth of copper. As of July, 2006 it cost more than 1.4 cents to manufacture and distribute a penny.
A debate exists between the US govt. and society at large over whether the penny should be eliminated. Two bills (in 2002 & 2006) introduced in congress would have ceased production, but neither was approved.
Some arguments for ceasing production:
Lost productivity & opportunity cost of use- It takes about 2 seconds for the average US worker to earn one cent. If it takes 2 seconds for each penny transaction, the cost of time wasted would be one billion annually, or $3.65 per person. Another calculation by economist Robert Whaples places the cost at $300 million annually.
Limited utility- Almost no vending machines take pennies except the US Post Office. People generally don't use pennies to pay and they usually aren't accepted in bulk. Most people store them at home.
No higher prices- One research showed that rounding off cost would have virtually no impact. Consumers would gain a tiny amount- about 1-40th of a cent per transaction.
Gains of moving to a dollar coin- Eliminating the penny may facilitate the adoption of a dollar coin. The Federal Reserve estimates that society could gain $500 million annually by the switch to a dollar coin.
Arguments for keeping the penny center mainly around popularity. Sixty-five per cent of the people favor the penny. Another argument for keeping it is higher cost to the consumer, but their own research says it would cost about two dollars per year, per person, to lose the penny.
Me? I'm sick of the damn things. They fill my pocket, clutter my dresser, and its a pain getting rid of them.
What are your feelings about the penny?
The page you were looking for no longer exists
beyondtheveil posted on Sep 27, 2007
| views: 711
Comments
-
secretlife said on Sep 27, 2007....
i say......bye bye pennies.they haven't been anything but a pain to me for many years! -
uniquely-ironic said on Sep 27, 2007....
the bane of my existance. I wouldn't miss them. -
SeanRenaud said on Sep 27, 2007....
I think that anything that costs more than it is worth has outgrown it's usefulness. It seems like a no brainer. -
the_infernal_optimist said on Sep 27, 2007....
While I wouldn't miss pennies, I'm in favor of moving to an all-coin system. The lifeof paper money is so short in comparison that I can't imagine it wouldn't save the gov't money in the long run, for one thing.
~Infernal
-
beyondtheveil said on Sep 27, 2007....
secret & unique- When one of you said a pain and the other a bane, it reminded me of something. In the last four years we have damaged our vacuum cleaner twice because of two pennies. The kids threw them around not wanting them and they can do a number on those plastic parts. The repair bills would have paid for any consumer loss to me for life.
sean- I agree. I've been hearing about cost of minting exceeding the value for years. And useful they are not.
infernal- You know, I haven't thought about what you said, but I like it. I've read about how long paper money lasts and the manufacture must be expensive. The only thing I might want bills for is larger denominations like fifty and one hundred- maybe. I'm sure they get a lot less use anyway.
-
SeanRenaud said on Sep 27, 2007....
I'd rather not have to dig through a coin purse. Plastic>Paper>Coins>beads on a rope>IOU.That is clearly the best order. -
mobil said on Sep 27, 2007....
Get rid of them, I don't like to see em go, but they are useless. -
sweet_cookie01 said on Sep 27, 2007....
thay make purses and pockets heavy... plus nothing now is worth just a penny anyway. -
nursecutie said on Sep 27, 2007....
Oh!! I just did a post about things I liked and disliked and pennies were one my dislikes!! I hate them. I have too many and they sit in my purse and make it too heavy.
I never seem to use them very much and sometimes just leave them on a counter at the store if i get them in change. And if I am vaccuuming and there is a penny on the floor, I just suck it up........LOL It's not worth the effort of picking it up for me......
xxoo natalie xxoo
-
beyondtheveil said on Sep 27, 2007....
sean- There will always be plastic until they start scanning the micro-chip in your arm. I suspect paper will be around for a while.
mobil- A little nostalgia in your comment, but useless is still useless.
sweet- I used to try and take time to pay with pennies when the amount provided for their use. I gave up on that some time ago. Now they just weight my pockets too.
cutie- I leave them on the counter sometimes too. In fact today at Albertson's I left them in the change tray. Be careful about the vacuum. Almost all have plastic parts and they can do real damage.
-
lfbno7 said on Sep 27, 2007....
Pennies are annoying. They just take up space. The space they take up is worth more than a penny.
In the movie Grease, one of the guys bent over to pick up a penny and got bopped in the head by a car door for his efforts. A tragic story.
-
moonriver said on Sep 27, 2007....
beyond -- i don't live in the u.s., and the last time i was there, i remember using only nickel, dime and quarter coins, so i can understand the practical concerns. my concerns are more sentimental, i guess, because my entire family collects coins.
when he retired and had all the time in his hands, my father used to store small-change coins in a big jar, including the .01 coin (which he stacked and scotch-taped together in five's), and gave it away to prisoners' kids at christmas time. i still do that, when i have the chance... ;-)
-
Bronx said on Sep 28, 2007....
No matter what is said, felt, and done, the penny will survive simply because it is the basic unit of the US currency.
IMHO, no nation ever does away with the foundation of its monetary system, even if it is useless and annoying.
It's a nationalistic or patriotic kind of thing. That's probably why those two bills you mentioned never passed. I collect coins, like moonriver - I value them too.
-
Actorguy said on Sep 28, 2007....
I too am a coin collector...at least I used to be...and I have heard this discussion many times. One of the things that adds greatly to the cost of pennies is their very short life expectancy. That's because most people do not re-circulate them. They empty the pennies from their pocket or purse and toss them in a jar on their dresser, at least I do and I think almost everybody does. Those pennies are now dead...they're out of circulation....they need to be replaced. Some experts estimate that the "real" cost of a penny is 9 or 10 cents! Every once in a while, when I am extremely bored (or extremely broke!) I roll up my pennies and take them to the bank, but that doesn't help. Those pennies have already been replaced, usually many times over.In Canada, we went to a one dollar coin many years ago. We call them loonies (they have a picture of a loon on them). They were so successful that a few years later we went to a two dollar coin, now called toonies (two-nies). They are now talking about a five dollar coin....Lord, I'll have to re-inforce my pockets! LOL -
silverwhisper said on Sep 28, 2007....
i must be weird. honestly, i rather like the penny. for odd amounts, its utility is indeed unquestionable and frankly, if we were to eliminate any single coin, i'd vote for the nickel way over the penny. it's big and ugly.
now, if they tied this to legislation that would make it illegal to quote prices that are in the thousandths (e.g., gas), now that i could support...
ed -
husbandhater said on Sep 28, 2007....
Strangely enough I have a bunch of little pennies in my bag and I don't use them. I usually give them to my 4yrold and he put's them in his piggy bank. You are right the pennie mine as well be extint. When you get on the bus and you are running low on change when you pull out the ole' Copper you get the strangest look and then they tell you the machine doesn't take pennies but it does.The pennie gets no respect in this country anymore so if it's cheaper to do away with then stop making them. I'm sure there are enough pennies around to keep us knee deep for years to come as people disregard them and take them so lightly.Cute post BTE! -
kruuyai said on Sep 28, 2007....
but... but... what would we put on railroad tracks!? I have a sentimental attachment to the penny. Getting rid of it seems like succumbing to inflation. Interesting about the coins actually being worth more than a penny. Ha! A dollar coin would increase back pain in America. But, if they were made out of a metal that was actually worth something, would they help to stabilize the dollar? Or would they keep printing up unbacked paper money?
-
kruuyai said on Sep 28, 2007....
Bronx: The dollar is the basic unit of US currency... not the penny. And many countries have done away with their lesser coins. -
tizzygirl said on Sep 28, 2007....
I would never want to lose them!!! In my house we save all our pennies in thos big metal milk jugs and in 2 years we saved $267.00 worth, yes a lot of pennies but it was well worth it!! I don't care what people say, ever little bit helps. I am a firm believer in that :) -
quietone said on Sep 28, 2007....
wow, that means the price of my thoughts just went up?? "penny for your thoughts" Hey, I say get rid of em too. but then the next would be the nickel etc. So if something costs .32 you think the store is going to say okay give me .30? nope...it would go up to the next .35..so they make 3cents? good profit for business, and I still would not miss it! -
beyondtheveil said on Sep 28, 2007....
7- Hey, you're right. The space they take up IS worth more than a penny.
moon- I thought about collectors because I'm a collector myself (of books). But the collecting will always be there. The newly minted coins are of really no value even to a collector. Most collectors go after scarce/rare and complete sets.
bronx- I honestly believe the reason 65% of the nation wants to keep them is more of a patriotic thing. And couple that with the thought it would gouge them monetarily.
actor- I know little about Canadian currency, but like the coin-dollar idea. I'm still trying to decide how far to take the coins replacing bills. I'll have to think about the pocket weight some more. Plastic has taken over so much, the weight probably wouldn't matter.
Ed- I was concerned at one time about the odd amounts until I saw the research. We would no longer have those odd amounts without pennies and it wouldn't cost us. You kind of surprised me. Here I have this buddy with a very reasoning mind and he wants to change currency because the nickel is "big and ugly". That's ok- I've wanted to get rid of things due to big and ugly (like republicans).
HH- We'll be knee deep for years. Geez, my dresser is knee deep.
kruu- Ha! I used to put pennies on railroad tracks- and a penny would buy a lollipop. You know, we've been succumbing to inflation for a long time, which is why its butt worthless. If they began coining more to replace bills, they would make them as cheaply as possible to my way of thinking. However, regardless of what they made then out of, they would be worth more than paper.
tizzy- If you don't want to lose them, that's ok, you are in the majority. But think about this- without the penny, you'd be putting nickels into the jugs and in two years have $1335.00. Does that make a difference?
quiet- That was funny. The price of our thoughts might well go up. I honestly don't know how much more costs would go up, but I'll bet it depends more on your state tax than the store.
-
silverwhisper said on Sep 28, 2007....
beyond: i can't help it, my distaste for nickels is visceral and profound. :>
ed -
confuzzledwife said on Oct 02, 2007....
I hate pennies! -
beyondtheveil said on Oct 02, 2007....
confuzzled- Well, you have company, lots of it.
Welcome to my blog.
Comment on "Would you be willing to give up the penny?"
Related Posts:
ashdupree
posted 4 days ago
| views: 18
|
Well, I just destroyed my new little purple acer.$400 down the drain from my savings reserve.
I keep trying really hard to get away from this hate stalker, JD howard who also goes under the guise of Doc Tanya,Dulcinea117, all th... read entire post