The Penny Debate: It costs 3.7¢ to make the .01¢ coin and costs us $179M in FY 2023. Do we need the penny anymore? Great video from CNN (see my post) Make your case below: Keep it or Scrap it! by Carla MacDonald

carla_macdonald — 2025-01-30 16:22:32 UTC

Check out this 2 minute video on the penny.

2025-01-30 17:25:39 UTC

I think we should scrap it because it cost us 179 million last year. This is a lot of money to produce something I do not think a lot of people use. When you pay for things in cash, they use dollar bills and other coins like dimes and nickels. Most people use credit cards and Apple Pay, Venmo to pay for things. I do not think that removing the penny will affect the way many people in the US pay for things. I think a lot of pennies end up discarded and unused. We are moving into a modern world where transactions are made quickly. Counting pennies takes time.

2025-01-31 14:47:48 UTC

From what I can tell it seems pointless to continue producing the penny for so much money when there is very little we get in return for it. It's been a long time since I've used or even cared about a penny when counting money or buying something, and since inflation is rising the penny is becoming less and less valuable every year. So, I think we should get rid of the penny and stop spending so much to produce it.

2025-02-01 03:08:11 UTC

It is so rare that when I go to pay for something with cash that I'll actually use change at all- let alone a penny. Moreover, as someone who handles money at work- it is rare to be handed a penny there too, most people pay with change increments of 5 because it is convenient. Therefore, I think we could do without the penny.

2025-02-10 13:30:25 UTC

UPDATE! Feb 10th news...President Trump ordered the US Treasury to stop making the penny. Check out the article linked above!

2025-02-10 13:57:33 UTC

It's crazy that it often costs more to produce a coin than it's actually worth. I do love collecting coins, and their historical significance cannot be disputed, but I personally believe that it might be time to move on.

However, we shouldn't let this happen abruptly. If we suddenly take away all the coins (or maybe all of them except the quarter), that could have severe repercussions; instead, we should very slowly phase it out.

Personal anecdote: When I visited India two summers ago, we were driving on the highway and stopped at a toll booth. There was a guy selling mangoes, and we bought some because we were hungry. We took out cash to give him, but instead, he asked us to scan his Google Pay QR code... we didn't have an account lol, and he looked at us as if we were crazy. Every echelon of society in India, from the fruit sellers to the shopowners, has transitioned away from physical currency and towards digital pay, and there's a similar circumstance in other countries. I think we're in a new era where the same thing will happen to the U.S.; WHEN is the question.

2025-02-18 16:34:56 UTC

UPDATE: If we remove the penny–we move our problem of overspending to produce to the nickel! Go to link and read this article.

https://www.mondayeconomist.com/p/penny?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email