Why America Should Trash the U.S. Penny America lost $55 million dollars producing pennies in 2014 alone. Pennies waste our taxpayers and governments’ money. Also, they’re bad for the environment around us. Not only that, but they’re also quite impractical. Therefore, America should get rid of the penny.
Pennies waste both American government and taxpayers money. Conforming to the 2014 Annual Report from the U.S. Mint, it currently costs 1.7 cents to make a single penny. That’s 70% more than the penny’s actually worth. Amy Livingston states, “...Coins are reusable. In theory, pennies could be used in hundreds, thousands, or even millions of transactions before it drops out of circulation. However, this only works if the coins actually do circulate- and pennies...often don’t.... As a result, the Mint just has to keep making pennies at a cost. In 2014, the Mint shipped out more pennies than nickels, quarters, and dimes put together- over 7.9 billion coins. That adds up to a loss over …show more content…
Many think pennies are made of straight copper, but that’s far from correct. Pennies are actually only 2.5% copper. Pennies are made from more than 97% zinc. Despite this, pennies are made of only 3%-11% metallic zinc. Zinc ores also consist of other toxic metals, such as lead and cadmium. Zinc is also extremely dangerous in large quantities to animals and people. The students of the University of California, the creators of DesignLife-Cycle.com, calculate, “Just transporting pennies to banks - not even counting any of the other stages of their production - puts about 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere each year.” In the absence of the penny, there would be less air pollution, even though on a small scale. Pennies are a nuisance to make and waste energy. If the U.S. Treasury Department were to stop producing them, they could save that energy wasted producing them for something that would actually come to
Pennies waste both American government and taxpayers money. Conforming to the 2014 Annual Report from the U.S. Mint, it currently costs 1.7 cents to make a single penny. That’s 70% more than the penny’s actually worth. Amy Livingston states, “...Coins are reusable. In theory, pennies could be used in hundreds, thousands, or even millions of transactions before it drops out of circulation. However, this only works if the coins actually do circulate- and pennies...often don’t.... As a result, the Mint just has to keep making pennies at a cost. In 2014, the Mint shipped out more pennies than nickels, quarters, and dimes put together- over 7.9 billion coins. That adds up to a loss over …show more content…
Many think pennies are made of straight copper, but that’s far from correct. Pennies are actually only 2.5% copper. Pennies are made from more than 97% zinc. Despite this, pennies are made of only 3%-11% metallic zinc. Zinc ores also consist of other toxic metals, such as lead and cadmium. Zinc is also extremely dangerous in large quantities to animals and people. The students of the University of California, the creators of DesignLife-Cycle.com, calculate, “Just transporting pennies to banks - not even counting any of the other stages of their production - puts about 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere each year.” In the absence of the penny, there would be less air pollution, even though on a small scale. Pennies are a nuisance to make and waste energy. If the U.S. Treasury Department were to stop producing them, they could save that energy wasted producing them for something that would actually come to