Spare Change. Photo by Samantha Flavell.
Contributed by Samantha Flavell
Oswego County Today intern
OSWEGO – The cost to produce the one-cent penny rose to 1.5 cents in the 2016 fiscal year according to US Mint spokesman Tom Jurkowsky in a Forbes interview.
Despite this, whether or not the continuing the penny remains hotly debated.
In the production of coins, according to treasury.gov, the US Mint buys strips of metal to manufacture the nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar.
The penny however requires a separate material.
For pennies, the mint buys ready made planchets or plain metal disks after supplying fabricators with the copper and zinc that is used to make the pennies.
Are pennies worth the hassle of paying for a separate material than is used on the rest of US coins?
While pennies may cost more than they are worth in economic value, pennies and their designs have often been used to commemorate different anniversaries and events, according to pennies.org.
For many, it is this sentimental worth that is what makes the penny appealing.
“I used them when I visit places and there are those penny press machines,” said Celene Stewart, 21. “I collect them.”
While many enjoy these penny presses to commemorate their travels, very few people say that they use pennies often.
A general consensus of the 16 that were interviewed by this reporter, nine responded that they either never use them at all or only use them when they know they have exact change and are a self-checkout where a cashier is not waiting for them to fish the change out.
When asked how often he uses pennies Michael Tavolacci said, “A few times a week. Honestly, I’d be happier without them because I hate getting four cents back.”
There are arguments for both sides.
Many insist that it is not worth it when it costs more to make the pennies than pennies are actually worth.
It would be much easier to change pricing to make the use of pennies obsolete, they said.
Whether you are pro-penny for sentimental or economic reason or adamantly against their use and the space they take up in your wallet – for now, it appears that they are here to stay.
So save those pennies, they may just add up to something.
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Getting rid of the penny would probably raise taxes. Nobody’s going to lower prices or taxes just to round off to the nearest nickle when making purchases. Either retail or the government would win in the end, but certainly not the consumer or taxpayer as I see it. Just my “two cents”, to put it out there.
Make the pennies out of aluminum for .004¢
If the Canadians dropped the penny, then it is the right thing to do.
i agree…use a cheaper metal
They made them out of steel in 1943. If they did it then, they could do it now. Who cares about what the Canadians would do. Their money always seemed inferior anyhow. You’re contridicting yourself ariel…why make them, and then just “drop them” because of what Canada would do?
What do you think the gas stations would do if they couldn’t sell gas in penny increments? I doubt it would ever be to the consumers advantage. It’s probably worth the “additional expense to make” just to keep the monetary system from effecting millions of other things. So, look at the bright side…maybe it’s actually WORTH what it costs to manufacture, and should be worth 2 cents instead.
Pennys are sort of like half-pennies centuries ago. Still, saying this, I TOTALLY agree that if we get rid of this denomination, we will have $.05 as the taxable rate, and who wants that. YES, make them out of something else than copper. Some alloy that is durable, and maybe even better than whatever ‘copper’ we are using now that pits within weeks after it begins circulation. A SHINY aluminum, or other metal. A recycled metal that isn’t good enough for say the auto industry, or an inferior other alloy.
The toony was sort of cute in Canada, and whoever said the Canadian money was inferior doesn’t know that WE in the US PRINT a lot of the money for other countries! And we print the ugliest money for ourselves. NO COLOR but green gray and dull other colors! :0/
I take the currency thing back. Just looked it up, and we stopped printing other country’s currency in 1984…;0/…
Sorry, but it was all inferior both in value as well as application. The colorfull dollars were often actually worth less than a U.S. dollar in value, and many of the coins didn’t work well in vending machines and pay phones. It’s value “has to be based on something of value” to be worth anything of intrinsic value.