Abolishing The Penny Essay

In the year 1787, the United States made a change regarding economics by introducing a one-cent coin, the penny (source B). As the first authorized currency of the nation, it had great purpose, as well as symbolism. It eventually grew to represent our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln, and all of his accomplishments (1909). Over the course of the past 231 years, a lot has changed. This includes how we view and use the penny in our everyday lives. Its value, convenience, relevance, significance. The famous coin that once changed our economy and set it up for its future has now become irrelevant to our current nation and, as a result, should be abolished. Every day, millions of people travel in and out of stores, making purchases which become prolonged due to a common hassle we all face: fishing through pockets, in search of a nearly insignificant coin, the penny. This may just seem like a nuisance, but could it actually be costing you more than you pay? According to Kahn, keeping the penny in our form of currency is actually costing us a great deal both individually and as a nation. The National Association of Convenience Stores has estimated the time that has been wasted by the penny. Every year, this coin is responsible for wasting four hours of precious time per person, (assuming that each person makes three transactions each day). Now, when just simply reading this fact, it doesn’t seem to be a lot of time. However, four hours of time can amount to a lot of good when used properly rather than wasted. Doctors can save lives, teachers can teach kids, parents can spend time with their children. Better accomplishments can be made than wasting four hours fishing for loose change, especially when that wasted time costs you more than just experiences. When calculated out how much these four hours are costing individuals, a conclusion has been made, assuming that “each person’s time is worth $15 [per] hour”, resulting in a loss of $60 every single year, costing the nation more than $15 billion per year. We don’t have all the time in the world, nor all the money in the world to be spending and wasting on an outdated coin. As kids, many of us would get excited about such simple joys, such as getting little toys and stickers …show more content…
When people think of the penny, many get the image of a small, bronze, copper coin. Before the year 1982, this idea would be accurate to reality, as the coin was mostly made of copper. However, ever since then, pennies have been composed of “97.5% zinc, with a little copper mixed in for appearance’s sake” (source A). Zinc is being used because it is less costly than copper. Although, even with this modification in its manufacturing design, the coin is still costing more to make than it is worth. Within the past few years, its cost has fluctuated slightly, but has stayed around 1.6 cents. At such a low value to begin with, and costing more to make than its actual value, it is not worth the time, cost, nor the energy being used to produce the penny. While all of this energy and money is going into manufacturing these pennies, the mills could be much more efficient and mass-produce many other coins, more useful than the