According to old superstition. It’s good luck to pick up a penny when you see it on the street. But whether or not you think picking up the coin would bring you good fortune, one thing it definitely won’t bring you is wealth. Pennies are so worthless that many people believe it’s time to get rid of them entirely. People used to be able to make actual purchases using pennies alone. Now, it’s possible but typically people don’t use any coins to pay for things. 

The penny was originally minted in 1792. The first form of card payment didn’t exist until 1950 so before that cash was the only form of payment people could use. Since then card payments are the most used form of payment. Most people say they don’t carry cash on them at all. 46% of Americans say they use cash less than 8 days each month. 5% say they never use it. There’s easier ways to pay now. Mobile payments, card payments. China now has the technology to use facial recognition for payments. When the penny was originally minted, it was worth more. People could actually use pennies to buy things. Now, due to inflation; we can’t. Inflation has emphasized the impracticality of the penny.

In 1817, the “ha’penny” was originally minted but was discontinued 40 years later in 1857. The ha’penny was 

worth only half a cent and was discontinued because it quickly became apparent that it was impractical. The ha’penny featured lady liberty on the head side and the worth on the tails side. Other places around the world got rid of their one cent coin and instead rounded to the nearest 5 cents. New Zealand, the Netherlands, Australia, and Finland all have discontinued their 1 cent coin and they saw no change in their charity donations nor retail prices. The United States military does the same. They’ve made the penny completely obsolete. Machines also typically don’t take pennies as forms of payment.

Machines such as, most vending machines, laundry machines, toll booths and parking meters all don’t take pennies.

Pennies used to be made of over 90% copper. Since then people realized that if pennies were made out of that much copper it would be more lucrative to melt the penny down and sell the copper then a penny was actually worth. So now pennies are made of zinc and only have a copper coating so they wouldn’t be worth more to melt down but they still cost more to make than the outcome of their worth. As of 2021, 4 billion pennies are made a year and cost 2.1 cents to make. Roughly $8,400,000,000 for an outcome of $4,000,000,000 being put into circulation. $4,400,000,000 a year is lost on pennies alone. Plus more because of how many pennies are carelessly thrown on the ground every day. It’s estimated that in one year, $62 million in pennies are lost every year in circulation.

There is an issue with former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln being featured on the penny and some argue that getting rid of the penny with him on it would be massively disrespectful. But Lincoln is also featured on the $5 bill and we still have the Lincoln memorial to pay our respects to him.

The penny is now essentially useless, and has been around draining our economy for too long. it’s time we say our goodbyes and stop producing the penny

links

https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/coins/fun-facts/category/penny#:~:text=The%20outside%20layers%20are%20three,copper%2F25%25%20nickel%20alloy.

https://www.wftv.com/consumer/clark-howard/clark-your-life/this-is-how-many-pennies-are-lost-in-circulation-each-year/680488696/#:~:text=The%20thing%20is%2C%20if%20we,in%20circulation%2C%20according%20to%20Bloomberg.

https://www.numismaticnews.net/community/military-bases-found-way-around-pennies

https://www.procon.org/headlines/should-the-penny-stay-in-circulation-top-3-pros-and-cons/

https://www.coinnews.net/2022/01/18/penny-costs-2-1-cents-to-make-in-2021-nickel-costs-8-52-cents-us-mint-realizes-381-2m-in-seigniorage/

https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/obama-open-to-getting-rid-of-the-penny