Srinivas Pullela

McGee/Romano
English II
25th February, 2016
"Should the Penny Be Abolished?" Synthesis Essay
Do you know that familiar feeling of hearing a jingle of penny coins in your
pocket? The feelings that follow are ones we know all too wellthe irritation and
annoyance most of us experience when we know we have pennies, and the internal
debate of whether or not we should simply trash them or store them where they will
accumulate to useful amounts. This seemingly petty issue is actually enveloped by
a largely debated issue in today's societythe elimination of the penny coin. The
issue was first brought to light in 2001 when U.S. Representative Jim Kolbe
introduced legislation to Congress to eliminate the penny coin in most transactions.
Although the legislation failed, there were still consistent calls to eliminate the
penny thereafter, and for good reason. On the whole, the penny coin should be
abolished as the smallest-denomination U.S. coin because it wastes time, resources,
effort, and above all hinders the transactions that it is supposed to facilitate.
The primary reason for the elimination of the penny coin is that it is obsolete
in the modern-day economy. Many people think that pennies are pesky one-cent
coins [that] continue to jingle uselessly in peoples pockets (Source A), and for
good reason. The point of currency is to facilitate transactions, and for most people
pennies are just a waste of time because it takes nearly a dime today to buy what a
penny used to back in 1950 (Sources B, C). People just do not have the time in their
already busy lives to collect the large numbers of pennies that actually amount to
something they can spend. For this reason, many people simply fling [them] into
trash [because they] are mucky and worthless. In fact, up to 27% of Americans
dont even keep track of their loose change, let alone the much larger number of
people who do not care for pennies (Source B). Pennies are outdated, almost
worthless, bothersome The U.S. is the last of the industrialized nations to abolish
their smallest-denomination coinage, and this further hints toward the fact that the
penny is merely a hindrance to the modern-day economy. In summation, pennies
are more trouble than they are worth [and thus should be eliminated (Source C).

In addition to being obsolete, the penny coin requires a great deal of

resources to maintain as a separate coin in the monetary system of the U.S., which
its usefulness does not outweigh. For instance, pennies are made up of 97.5%
zinc and the remaining 2.5% is composed of copper for the sake of appearance.
Both of these metals are finite resources, and the discontinuation of the penny coin
would greatly reduce the rate at which they are used up (Source A). The resources
may then be re-allocated to a different, more productive use or stored the future.
Furthermore, according to Source C, two-thirds of the pennies minted drop out of
circulation and into piggy banks, behind cushions, and other places where they will
likely remain unused, which shows that not only are limited resources being used up
to make useless coins but a majority of those coins are unable to serve their
purpose anyway. As calculated by Gore in Source B, the penny ends up costing the
U.S. approximately 15 billion dollars worth of time and effort per year, a
tremendous burden upon the economy. Another aspect of to be taken into
consideration would be the people who do make and use pennies on a regular basis.
The government workers who help make them could be better spending their time
on other problems such as tracking down counterfeiters, etc. The coins also cost
significantly more in employee-hours at stores and so forth, where buyers have to
fish them out and count them and shopkeepers have to collect them and take them
to the bankall of which costs much more than simply tossing out the pennies
(Source C). Overall, eliminating the penny seems to be the very effective in order
to better the monetary system.
While there is a great deal of evidence in support of abolishing the penny coin
as the smallest denomination coin in the U.S., many still hold out in defense of the
penny for several reasons. However, many of these reasons are ill-founded and
impractical. A unique argument made in this sense is that the penny is a symbol of
the rich history of the U.S., especially of one of its most famous presidents,
Abraham Lincoln (Source F). While this notion is very patriotic and righteous, it is
simply wrong as a nation must look back at its history to find the tools to move
forward and not cling onto relics of the past, which simply do not belong in the
present. Simply put, the penny may have its historical significance and may have
been useful in the past, but that is no longer the case and as such it should be
eliminated for the good of the economy. Another common argument is that people

of different income brackets all show majority support for the existence of the
penny. However, it should be noted that what the majority wants may not be what is
best, and a well-founded decision lies in the research and educated inference and
not the instinct and opinion which likely accounts for the majority of answers in the
Harris Poll in Source E. In conclusion, the arguments against the elimination of the
penny coin are arbitrary for the most part and should not be entertained but instead
the best course of action should be takento eliminate the penny.
To recapitulate, the fate of the penny coin in the modern day economy is a
widely debated issue, and has both advantages and disadvantages. The
advantages, however, greatly outweigh the disadvantages. The penny coin is
frowned upon in everyday life and ignored for the most part, being viewed as an
annoyance. It is hardly noticed and does not buy anything in the modern economy.
The penny also wastes a great deal of the nations resources such as time for
employers, employees, and customer, manual labor, money, metals, etc., which is
why it is not wise to continue its manufacturing and usage in the U.S. Essentially,
the penny coin in the U.S. is a relic of the past that continues to drain the nations
time and resources while not facilitating transactions as it is intended to, which is
why it should be eliminated.