Pennies have circulated the U.S. economic system since 1793. However, some believe their circulation should come to a close, and polls show that support for this viewpoint is growing quickly. If this support becomes legislation, the United States will join Canada, Australia, and others in getting rid of 1¢ coins.
Though pennies are viewed by many to be a nuisance, they’re associated with tradition based sentiments for students at Texas A&M University. Former TAMU president Lawrence Sullivan Ross was said to help students with homework, telling students “a penny for your thoughts” in return for his help. Nowadays, students leave pennies on his statue for good luck on exams. The tradition is so well known that Pixar[‘s Aggie employees] named Monsters Inc.’s Sully after Lawrence Sullivan Ross himself and modeled the main building in Monsters University after the plaza Sully’s statue is in. Although controversy over whether the statue should remain in the Academic Plaza due to Sully’s past as a Confederate States Army general has sparked TAMU discourse (wonderful op-ed prompt for anyone who is brave enough to write it!), there’s no doubt the penny is valued by consumers for more than its 1¢ value.
That being said, do sentiments make up for the penny’s diminishing role in our economic system? Logical arguments from both sides tackle this very question. Here are the main arguments:
1. Are pennies worthless for everyone… or beneficial for those in need?
Many argue that pennies no longer have a purpose. Two thirds of pennies aren’t even in circulation: lost in sofas, left on streets, thrown in trash cans, kept in piggy backs… even vending machines don’t accept pennies anymore. So why keep minting pennies if they don’t facilitate monetary exchange? Half-pennies were abolished after their half-decade life in the United States (1793-1857), so the concept certainly isn’t new.
Of course, this logic doesn’t consider low income households, who are more likely to use cash. Rounding prices to the nickel would impact their purchase of everyday items, such as gas or groceries. While some economists think consumers and businesses would be unaffected by rounding, others see little incentive for businesses to round down and predict a multibillion dollar rounding tax for U.S. consumers, which would hurt low income households the most.
2. Are pennies a waste of time… or an efficient solution?
Pennies are said to add 2 to 2.5 seconds to each cash transaction, causing the average person to waste 730 seconds every year. Likewise, anyone who earns above minimum wage will lose money if they pick up a penny, as the penny is less valuable than their lost wages; a.k.a. said person would be better off working during the time it takes to pick a penny up.
This is where I have to interject and say… really? Lost wages? Don’t the majority of people pick up pennies during leisure time or moments of boredom? Are we supposed to believe that time saved from not picking up pennies would’ve been spent on work and not spent scrolling through social media or staring at clocks in the train station?
Furthermore, what about those who do earn minimum wage or less? Is their ability to pick up pennies less valuable than the time white collar workers spend shuffling through purses to find them?
Penny keepers further argue that abolishing the penny would require us to mint more 5¢ coins, which would cost $10.9 million more every year; nickels are made at a loss of 2.58¢ per coin compared to the penny’s loss of 0.65¢ per coin.
But does the fact that more people keep nickels make up for this loss? Or will nickels become the new pennies, tossed into streets and trash cans like nothing?
3. Is harming the environment worth saving charities?
Mining the zinc and copper used in pennies results in large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions and energy production. Penny abolishers believe this is partly why pennies should no longer be minted.
However, if eco-friendliness is truly the priority here, why not focus on solutions that actually have large impacts on the environment? Why not do something about cars and airplanes and corporations that don’t use biodegradable products? Why put the responsibility of recycling and boycotting pennies solely on civilians when those actions can only do so much?
Penny keepers would argue that this shift in focus would save not only our trees but our charities. After all, pennies are vital to the fundraising efforts of many organizations (for ex – the Salvation Army) because they’re more likely to be given away. In fact, Second Harvest’s Ms. Cheap Penny Drive in Tennessee was able to pay for 316,039 meals through penny donations alone.
That being said, some charities are moving away from the “every penny counts” mentality. To these organizations, the cost of sorting pennies isn’t worth the 1¢ donations they provide.
4. Why do we care so much about pennies anyways?
Of course, all the above arguments fail to address sentimental associations people have with pennies, which inherently defy logic.
After all, why do students go out of their way to put pennies on Sully when they could just study more? Why do Christians leave pennies on graves when the Bible says to store treasures in heaven? Why do video gamers play fake soccer when they could just go outside and kick a ball? (That last one isn’t related to pennies, I just threw it out there because I want answers.)
Last but not least, should we even be arguing about pennies when we have troops abroad and mass shootings at home? This question takes us to why Americans have debated and postponed the issue for decades: pennies pale in comparison to more serious controversies.
And yet we argue about them still. Only time can tell if the debate will ever reach a conclusion.