Has the venerable $.01 piece outlived its usefulness? Check out the website for some of the arguments in favor of eliminating the penny. What do you think? Also check out this guys hilarious rant against the penny.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Is it time to Retire the Penny?
Has the venerable $.01 piece outlived its usefulness? Check out the website for some of the arguments in favor of eliminating the penny. What do you think? Also check out this guys hilarious rant against the penny.
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28 comments:
No, I feel like retiring the penny will be equivalent to canceling baseball, or setting fire to all Disney films. The penny is something ingrained into American society. Yes, it costs $0.015 to make the $0.01 coin, but without it, won't that have adverse effects on the American economy, and moreover, the world. True, it is inconvenient to reach down in your pocket, in between car seats, or couch cushions to find change to pay for an awkwardly priced item, but isn’t that what makes us unique? So, in my opinion, I love the penny, take it away, and I’ll come after you. (PS, the guy in the video is just trying to make a ruckus to get more subscriptions on his YouTube channel. Although, he also hates nickels, which I don’t necessarily care for…)
7th period
No. It is not time to retire the penny, nor will it ever be time. Because of the way our monetary system is based, it would be an ill-fitting solution to do away with the 1 cent piece, forcing all other prices to be rounded (though I'm sure there's an argument for that as well.) While I advocate the existence of the penny, I do understand the paradox of it being worth less than it costs to produce. To that end, I suggest we alter the penny. Change the design and the metals we use to make it in order to reduce cost. That way we can keep our lovable Lincoln and still be lucrative.
No. Penny is an integral part of the economy! When change is .01-.04 cents, what other coin will come to the rescue? Not the mundane nickel, or the trusty dime or even the mighty quarter. We need those pennies to fill in the duties other coins cannot!
I personally don't care whether or not we retire the penny because it's just a penny. I can see where it costs more to make the penny than its actually worth but the penny is just a part of society. We are used to it being here. Although pennies are extremely annoying and worth virtually nothing, I don't think it would be that bad to do without the penny.
As it states in the rant, much of the penny's existence lies in a sort of sentimental feeling. Many things these days are not worth under ten cents, and so abandoning the penny may be very good for the economy. I feel that it will go away at some point and time. However, the issue is not at the top of the priority list, and the zinc company will try to keep the penny afloat. I think the combined existence of the nickel and penny is much worse. ( cents to make a nickel? Really? Someday these problems will be settle, hopefully soon...
Will Ripley
Period 7
Malavika Chander
4th Period
I don't think we should get rid of the penny. It is just one of those things that "sticks" in society. Getting rid of the penny would essentially produce the same reaction as saying Pluto isn't a planet any longer. Although pennies are inconvenient, ironically expensive, and unnecessary, it makes us unique. And in some cases, it is actually helpful. The penny is a reminder of the great president Lincoln and doing away with it would force us to have to round other prices- an unnecessary inconvenience.
i wouldn't mind if the penny was removed, although we are used to it being here. why waste time, money, and effort creating pennies? in the end, i don't think it would really be a bad idea having the pennies removed.
4th period
I do not think it will matter very much if the penny was removed or not. It has been part of the US currency for so long, you would think it would be a significant loss if it were to be discontinued, however, it would not be that big of a deal. If the penny is removed, then a lot of prices for goods would have to be adjusted or rounded up or down, which is not that big of a deal. Either way the penny is part of the system and should remain in the currency system but it doesn't matter to me. I hate it when I'm always a penny short buying things anyway ..
I think whether or not we retire the penny won't matter. It is just something most of us grew up with. The penny does not hold much value, but keeping it does help not having to round all the prices, being able to give exact change, etc. Of course, it is also a tribute to one of our greater presidents as well. However, I think that people have a very good point in saying that it is ridiculous that they cost more to make than they are worth. That was unknown to me before, and I find it strange that the government is okay with something as silly as that. I think having pennies that are made cheaper is perhaps a better idea.
Yes, I think it may be time to retire the penny. It is kind of worthless and it has no real value to anyone who owns them. When someone sees a penny on the ground they leave it there because there is nothing you can do with a penny besides hopefully find 99 more and try to trade it for a dollar, which no one would do because it's pennies! you could go to a change machine but it would have to find over a dollar worth of pennies to get one dollar. The cost of making the penny is not worth it. People what to hold on to the penny because of the history of it but it is not doing anything to improve our economy. On the other hand this would cause us to go through changing on how our money system works because if the penny is gone we would have to pay and make sure every total equals some multiple of 5. Which would be close to impossible. So even if we wanted to retire the penny we wouldn't be able to.
I don't think penny should be retired anytime soon. It keeps our monetary system's accuracy pretty high. I believe that without pennies, when people do percentage calculation of dollars, the precision of the result would be low. And so, it will be inconvenient not only to the citizens of the United States, but rather all of the international countries that trades with the United States will be affected. For this reason, I think pennies should not be retired.
Kasey Saldana
7th period
I think that it could go either way. The penny could be retired,and we would save money buy not making something that is worth less than it costs to make, but on the other hand that would fore prices to be rounded to multiples of five. Most companies wouldn't going to want to round their prices down, so they would all round up to the multiples of five. It may not seem like a lot but when it all adds up the money we thought we saved per year would just get spent elsewhere...
Eamonn Gossard
Period4
The only thing stopping me from saying that we should get rid of the penny is the fear of losing a little bit of money in the loss of accuracy in exchanges. However, when I consider the fact that when rounding the probability of rounding up and rounding down will probably even out, and the fact that even if any money below five cents was just lost, that it would not add up to that much, I am able to say that we should get rid of the penny. The time factor does not get to me, because there are plenty of things that take up more time in my day than waiting for pennies. But the fact that it is costing more than the value of the penny to make the penny is absurd. Thus, we should eliminate the penny.
I believe that if America would get rid of the penny then America would have to change their economy. Which it A) Not necessary and B) Too much of a hassle for $.01. Even though it is not worth much, every penny adds up and has a huge contribution to the economy. If not already obvious, I am against retiring the penny because there is no need to.
From what this guy said, it can only make sense to get rid of the penny once and for all. If you oppose the abolition of the lincoln then you are irrational. Well that what this guy makes it seem like. There might be at least a half way decent argument for the penny, but money is money and when it costs 1.7cents to make 1 cent something needs to change. Although getting rid of the penny altogether would make giving someone their change quite difficult.
As annoying and frustrating as pennies (and nickels) can get, it is a little hard for me to imagine how life would be without them. I'm not going to lie, I hate when tons of pennies, and all coins for that matter, pile up in my wallet and then make it difficult to close. However, what would happen if I were to pay in cash for something and needed $.23 back? Do I just lose out on 3 cents because all that exists is dimes? Eliminating the penny would also take away the secret pleasure of pouring all of your collected coins out of your piggy bank and being amazed at how much everything adds up to! Like the vlogger said, we are a very sentimental people and there's a very little chance that Americans are willing to retire a part of our economic history.
I don't think America should abandon its penny because penny is essential to our monetary system. Even though penny actually cost more and it takes people longer time for transaction, we still need it.
Personally, I don't think it is necessary to get rid of the penny. It just causes a hassle for the economy and society will have to adjust. The entire money system will have to change to deal with the use of not having a penny. It is true though that one of the reasons the penny still exist is because people don't like change. Pennies are somewhat useful though. Whenever change is less than 4 cents how are people going to deal with that if the penny doesn't exist? Plus, I like finding a penny on heads. It makes my day better!
Kenneth George
4th
The penny itself is a valuable part of the economy and it is not time to retire it. Sure, its value continues to depreciate as inflation rises, but if we did not have the penny then all monetary exchanges would either end in a 5 or 0 and if a person had to, for example, pay 5.60 for a bottle of water, would the economy round that value up to six dollars since no values except 5 and 0 can exist? Also, knowing that the government tries to squeeze every penny out of us, they would most likely round something like 5.51 all the way up to 6.00 dollars. If the penny does not continue to circulate in the economy people will not be able to have fair prices on different products. The video was hilarious, Abraham Lincoln being ashamed of his face on the penny would be quite the sight to see. And if the penny had such a high value during Lincoln's time, then who's not to say that it will rise in value again? Overall, the penny and its usefulness has not reached its maximum potential, and its continual circulation in the economy may eventually help if not right now.
I don't think it is time to retire the penny. If America did, then the price of everything would have to change to make the total an even nickel. Most likely the prices would go up, not down, and those extra pennies add up pretty fast when everything you buy has the extra cost.
Tia Wettman
Period 4
Thampuratty Jayadevan
Period 7th
Yeah i think its time for the penny to retire. I think it over stayed its welcome in the society. The penny costs more to make than i would actually like. Im pretty sure that our government can find some other use for the money we spend on making pennies right now.
4th Period
Well, I believe the penny should not be retired because although the article says that the penny is a waste of time and money, it still will have value in the near future. When they retired the "half a penny" people figure that if the "half a penny" was still around then it would be equivalent in value to the dime. Who says that the penny might not rise in the future, and surpass the quarter? I still say we should keep the penny, and use this as an investment.
Karly Brightwell
4th period
I do not think it is time to retire the penny. I believe this not because I love to pick up the "lucky" pennies on the ground, but because the penny is a part of American history. Something that has been around for so long is worth the manufacturing. It is a symbol of America. The economy is also built around the penny, and if it retired all price would round up and everything would be more expensive. It should stay so that all penny collectors have something to look forward to.
I do think it is time to retire the penny but I highly doubt that that change will come about in this century. The existence of the penny, as the video stated, is more of an attachment thing than it is a necessary thing. However, if the penny was retired, there would have to be a change in the way people are given change. If the price of something you buy is $4.58, you would only be able to pay $4.50 of that cost without the penny. If the entire system was automated, coins and cash could be entirely eliminated. There is obviously a strong amount of support for getting rid of the penny, but at the same time a replacement system needs to be proven effective before any changes take place.
I think that the penny should only be take n away under one condition. That condition being if that it is costing more money to make than what it actually is. Then it'd be pointless because the government would just be wasting money on making money that is no good instead of using it on other expenditures that may be needed or desried by the public. That is the only reason that the penny should be taken away, otherwise it should be kept in the system.
Nick Hernandez
Period 4
Yes, I think that the penny is something that America has to give up. In essence, the penny costs more to create than it's even worth! The only reason we even have the penny has to do with how human's think, or psychology. Something that is $4.99 at the store seems so much more worth buying than something that is $5.00, even though it's just one penny more. Pennies also, like most coins, always get lost and deemed useless. No one bothers to pick a penny off the floor.
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