Should the United States Discontinue the Penny? The penny is a coin that no longer belongs in circulation. It has been around since 1792 and has lost much of its value during this long period of time. The penny costs more to make than what it is actually worth, the demand for pennies has decreased over the hundreds of years, and are overall inconvenient to use. Yes, the penny needs to be discontinued. The United States will be better financially and economically without the penny. First, pennies are expensive to produce and they have been for a long time. The penny at first was 100% copper. As the value of copper increased the alloy of the penny was changed to 95% zinc and 5% copper. In 2006 the value of the copper became greater than the penny. People known as "Penny Hoarders" collected pennies and began to be melt down the coins for a higher profit. However the United States made this illegal and continued to produce the penny. It costs 1.8 cents to produce one penny. In the years of 2012-2014 over 21 billion pennies were produced. The total cost to make these 21 billion pennies was 276 million dollars while the value of 21 billion pennies is only 210 million dollars. American taxpayers lost over 66 million dollars from the penny. Americans will continue to lose money by …show more content…
Someone could purchase products with the penny. The penny had a value; they were in circulation. However, the purpose for a currency is to effectively purchase and trade items. Currency is used for exchanging items simply. Currencies are broken down into smaller values to make the price accurate. Almost half of the pennies made every year fall out of circulation due to storing the coin, being lost, and other reasons. People really don't use pennies and that is the problem, it is easier to pay with a credit card or a simple bill or larger value coin. Pennies are no longer useful, so there is no reason to produce