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Eliminate the Penny

Created by D.G. on November 17, 2012

Eliminate the Penny. It is a waste of money and a drag on the economy. Specifically:
1) Production costs more than its face worth
2) Incurs lost productivity and opportunity cost in the larger economy due to the time spent using pennies (estimates range from $300 million to $1 billion)
3) Pennies are not accepted by vending machines and most toll booths
4) Pennies are rarely are used to make purchases. They are received as change and end up outside of circulation.

Precedents in other counties offer practical lessons in how to discontinue the coin as well as providing evidence prices would not be higher. Also the United States has discontinued coins before. In 1857 the half-cent coin was removed from production when it had the modern equivalent buying power of around 11 cents.

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