A Penny Saved Is a Penny Wasted
A Penny Saved Is Two Pennies Wasted
The United States of America, despite its relatively short life, is immersed in tradition. While some of these traditions are well-known and apparent, others are less obvious. The penny, our little copper one-cent piece littering change jars from coast to coast, is a tradition that, while seemingly harmless, is a great burden to our country. Due to the lost profits in the creation of today’s one-cent piece and using the models of previous successful countries in this initiative, I propose the United States retire its penny.
From my point-of-view, pennies have always been. As a child, I valued them a great deal more than I do now. As an adult, pennies have become little more than a nuisance. Infinitesimal existence isn’t the case for the United States, and thus is also the case for its currency. After the passing of The Coinage Act in 1792, the U.S. established its first mint. Surprisingly, a common argument for keeping the penny is in defense of Abe Lincoln’s face. Though it’s hard to imagine the coin without Abe’s foretelling, left-turned head, he didn’t exist in the time of the penny’s creation and the coin was adorned with the image of lady liberty. His face is not title owner of the penny and, for those opposed to the removal of this coin on his behalf, he is still blazing the fronts of the five dollar bill.
Since its induction, the penny has gone through many changes, and over time, has gradually lost value in the way of its composition. What was once a purely copper coin, is as of September 2012, 97.5% zinc and only 2.5% copper, an amount just for show. In the time between its origin and the current piece, the copper amount has decreased rapidly due to copper costs. Pennies dates before 1982 were made of at least 95% copper, but dropped to the current 2.5% just a year later. These pre-1982 pennies were quickly being melted down for their metal until 2007 regulations by the Department of the Treasury prohibited this.
The United States of America, despite its relatively short life, is immersed in tradition. While some of these traditions are well-known and apparent, others are less obvious. The penny, our little copper one-cent piece littering change jars from coast to coast, is a tradition that, while seemingly harmless, is a great burden to our country. Due to the lost profits in the creation of today’s one-cent piece and using the models of previous successful countries in this initiative, I propose the United States retire its penny.
From my point-of-view, pennies have always been. As a child, I valued them a great deal more than I do now. As an adult, pennies have become little more than a nuisance. Infinitesimal existence isn’t the case for the United States, and thus is also the case for its currency. After the passing of The Coinage Act in 1792, the U.S. established its first mint. Surprisingly, a common argument for keeping the penny is in defense of Abe Lincoln’s face. Though it’s hard to imagine the coin without Abe’s foretelling, left-turned head, he didn’t exist in the time of the penny’s creation and the coin was adorned with the image of lady liberty. His face is not title owner of the penny and, for those opposed to the removal of this coin on his behalf, he is still blazing the fronts of the five dollar bill.
Since its induction, the penny has gone through many changes, and over time, has gradually lost value in the way of its composition. What was once a purely copper coin, is as of September 2012, 97.5% zinc and only 2.5% copper, an amount just for show. In the time between its origin and the current piece, the copper amount has decreased rapidly due to copper costs. Pennies dates before 1982 were made of at least 95% copper, but dropped to the current 2.5% just a year later. These pre-1982 pennies were quickly being melted down for their metal until 2007 regulations by the Department of the Treasury prohibited this.