Times Editorial : 1.26 cents for your thoughts
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
As of Tuesday, a penny (which is 97. 5 percent zinc and 2. 5 percent copper ) cost the U. S. Mint 1. 26 cents to create. A nickel (which is 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel ) cost 7. 7 cents to make. The difference adds up. Ultimately, Americans are spending tens of millions extra annually to keep the coins around.
In 2007, the U. S. Mint produced 7. 4 billion pennies. If that many are produced this year, it will cost $ 19. 2 million more than those pennies' face value to make them.
So - is it worth it to keep these coins around ?
Plenty of people think it just doesn't make sense to keep cents around. Prices have grown past the point that they're useful. As one economist said, when people start leaving a monetary unit behind at the cash register for some other customer to use, that monetary unit has become too small to be useful.
At the least, members of Congress are considering the possibility of making pennies (and even nickels ) of less-expensive steel in the future, thus reviving a tradition last seen during World War II.
It may very well be the case that Uncle Sam would save money without the penny. But we can pretty well guarantee that President Bush, and Congress, would see its approval ratings fall even lower (if that's actually possible ) if they tried to banish penny production. Americans love hoarding pennies. Everybody knows it.
Which is why the penny isn't going anywhere.
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