The Fate of the Penny

In the article “Waiting for Change” by Josh Sanburn, we learned about the argument about whether to keep the penny, or to go hasta la vista Abe-y (…Lincoln).

Did you know the value of the penny has been decreasing for quiet a few years?  Do you know how much it cost to make a penny in 2006?  One dollar? One cent?  Two cents?  The answer is two cents.  That is a little bit ridiculous to me.  A lot of other countries stopped using the penny.  For example, Canada has a money system like ours and they stopped using the penny on February fourth!

Jarden Zinc Products is a big zinc plant that is a few miles outside of Greenville, Tennessee.  No not the flower plant.  They are the only provider of blanks to the U.S Mint.  A blank is a metal disc that becomes a penny, and a mint, in this case, is a place where coins are made. For Jarden it is a great job. They have earned over eight hundred million dollars since 2000! The zinc industry and Jarden want to keep the penny and they are fighting for it. Jarden Zinc Products has donated one point two million dollars to Americans for Common Cents (ACC) since 2006. Their objective is to keep the penny. ACC’s executive director, Mark Weller says that there are three important reasons for keeping the penny; without it we would have to be more dependent on the nickel, charities that rely on penny drives might not be able to raise as much money and a 2012 survey showed that sixty-seven percent of Americans want to keep the penny. A lot of people said that they were afraid that they would start paying more on items.

Numerous experts do not agree with ACC. They point to tons of countries that have gotten rid of the penny without raising prices for buyers.  Charities aren’t fretting either. The Salvation Army does get a lot of penny donations, but Major George Hood is not worried.  He says, “ If pennies were to be removed from circulation the Salvation Army hopes the American public will continue to donate generously to help people in need.”

Marc Weller has a strong point about keeping the penny…the nickel.  Every nickel costs the U.S Mint ten cents! If we eliminate the penny we will use the nickel a lot! So basically we would be opening the same can of worms! Some experts have suggested getting rid of both!  Then cash deals would have to be rounded to the nearest dime.

As you can see, this is a tricky question.  I think we should keep the penny.  Penny for your thoughts?