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 lioke this topic a lot and well done! A bit late.

  • I think they should keep the penny, although I don't use it, it's sort of a tradition almost. I know many people use pennies so it's not like it isn't used. I don't think I would get upset if it wasn't used anymore. I don't use pennies in my everyday life.

  • I think that they should keep pennies but limit how many pennies they produce. I think that if they limit the amount of pennies they can produce other goods possibly other coins. I don't use pennies granted I don't use any kind of change at all but once I get a lot I exchange it for dollars. 

  • I think they should remove the pennies. A lot of people don't use penny plus there not worth a lot so it would not hurt to remove them from circulation. Sometimes pennys do come in handy but not that often so I think they should get rid of them.

    • I completely agree with you that they are not worth enough value to warrant keeping them in circulation. Most Americans rarely even use the penny, like myself -- I myself rarely use the penny, similarly to you.

  • No, how else would you give back one cent. I don't think I would be super upset if I wouldn't use it anymore but cashiers and other people could be upset because it would be had to give you the right amount of money back. I use them when I go get food and pay in cash.

  • I don't think it should be taken out of circulation, I feel like it would make things more complicated with pricing and giving change back. They may be kind of a hassle to "carry around" but it's nice to have them especially with taxes, a lot of change ends in odd numbers which pennies are used for.

    • I can see why you would think that it would be a complicated process, but most of the people wishing to get rid of the penny purpose changing the pricing system entirely to eliminated any odd pricings that would require pennies.

  • I think we should still keep it because it's handy in the long-run if you save. It would be a very slow process to save pennies though. I wouldn't be upset if we stopped using it, but why would we switch it if we've been using it for quite awhile. I rarely use a pennies. If I do use coins it's probaly quarters.

  • No, I don’t think that the American penny should be removed from circulation because as a checker at Fareway here in Harlan and when it comes to counting money pennies are very convenient. I already struggle with counting money so having to count differently would probably be a lot harder. I am a checker so I definitely use pennies in my almost everyday life along with many other types of change.

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