Should the Penny be Removed from Circulation?

Whether or not the U.S. penny should remain in circulation has been a topic that has been hotly debated for many years now. There have been many attempts to pass bills by congress to eliminate the use of the penny in the United States of America, like the Price Rounding Act of 1989 or the Penny Elimination Act; all of these attempts have been futile.

 

The question is why? Why would congress spend so much time and energy trying to get rid of such a seemingly miniscule part of the United States economy. There are several reasons why the government has been considering ditching the one cent coin. One of the main reasons people oppose the use of the penny is because it simply costs more money to make than it is worth. According to the United States Mint, it costs around two point one cents to make the penny worth only one cent. While that might not seem like a lot, it is over twice the value; and it can start to make a significant difference when you take into account that the United States Mint makes over thirteen billion pennies on average each year. Another point of emphasis of the anti-penny group is that pennies are extremely inconvenient to the American people in their day to day lives. Pennies are extremely large and heavy for what little monetary value they hold. This causes many citizens to not want to carry them around, further diminishing their usefulness.

 

Some of the main arguments to keep the penny include cost to remove it from circulation, prevent prices from being even higher, and the sentimental value the penny holds. Many people against the removal of the penny argue that while the penny might not be extremely valuable and useful, it would be much more costly to try and remove the United States penny from circulation. Others think that if we get rid of the penny, businesses would be forced to round their prices up to the nearest nickel, dime, quarter, or dollar; resulting in increased prices. Some maintain that the only reason we should continue to use the penny is that it holds great sentimental value among the people of the United States. 

 

 

Do you think that the penny should be taken out of circulation?

Would you be upset if you could no longer use the penny?

Do you use pennies in your daily life?

 

https://www.legion.org/sites/legion.org/modules/custom/boysnation/bn_registration/bn_docs/2019/legislative/2019_nj_bill_quinn_kyle_840.pdf 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_debate_in_the_United_States#:~:text=In%201990%2C%20United%20States%20Representative,rounding%20to%20the%20nearest%20nickel


https://wisevoter.com/issue/why-should-we-keep-the-penny/

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    • I can understand why you would want to keep the penny as it is how you have always had to count money, but I personally think that it would take much less time and be much more efficient in the long run.

  • I think that pennies should be taken out of circulation. I don't think I've ever payed with pennies to give exact change. I think it takes to long to count them so I usually don't use them. Many people don't use pennies so I think it would be good if we stopped using them. 

  • I think we should keep pennies you never know when you have to pay for fast food and you need a single cent those times pennies come in handy and yeah it's not often that you need a penny but having them on hand is still useful.

  • I never use pennies. Most people rarely use cash, so the amount of people that use pennies is even lower. Raising costs could be stressful initially, but I think after a while it would settle down and people would get used to prices being to the nearest $0.05. If it is more expensive to produce a penny than it is worth, it's probably more detrimental to keep it in circulation.

    • I completely agree with you that in the modern world of technology, the number of people still using cash to purchase goods and services consistently is shrinking by the day, let alone people that use the penny on a day to day basis.

  • I think the penny should be taken out of circulation. I don't think I've ever used a penny to pay with exact change, and they don't add up very fast even if you collect them. It is a waste of the U.S. government's money by keeping them in circulation, since they cost over twice as much to produce as they are worth.

  • I do not think that the penny should stay in circulation. I do not think that they should be manufactured anymore. I've never used pennies to pay in exact change so I think that they are pretty useless. I wouldn't really care if they were totally removed or just not manufactured anymore.

    • I completely agree with you that the penny should be removed from circulation. I personally do not think that I have ever used pennies to pay for something in my entire life. 

  • I don't think that we should keep the penny in circulation. At the very least, we should stop making pennies if they cost more to make than they are actually worth. Also, they're just a hassle to not lose, and actually using them is almost never necessary. I wouldn't be upset, but my grandma and other coin collectors might be if the penny is removed.

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