I don't care how awesome Abraham Lincoln was; his coin has got to go.
The penny is practically worthless. It is a waste of time and money for the American people.
According to a New York Times article, the cost of manufacturing a penny went up to 1.4 cents per coin in April of last year. This cost will continue to rise along with the price of zinc, which is the primary ingredient in modern pennies.
Not only are they a waste of money to produce, pennies aren't very useful. Most vending machines, buses and tollbooths don't accept them. An attempt to give a cashier more than a few pennies during a transaction is often considered irritating and inconsiderate.
If the penny was eliminated, cash purchases would be rounded to the nearest nickel. This is probably the most controversial part of the whole issue, and Raymond Lombra, a Penn State economics professor, is one major proponent for keeping the penny.
Lombra argues that since convenience stores commonly price items ending in 99 cents, prices would usually be rounded up, resulting in a loss to the consumer more often than not.
The folks at Citizens for Retiring the Penny, one of the most obscure non-profit interest groups I have ever heard of, contend that Lombra failed to take into account the purchase of several items at a time coupled with the randomizing effect of sales tax. They speculate that these factors result in a 50-50 chance that the price of a purchase would be rounded up or down.
If this is correct, then consumers would get a penny here and lose a penny there, resulting in no real loss or gain for anyone in the long run. In addition, electronic transactions would not be rounded.
When it comes to individual states, the most loyalty to the penny is found in Illinois, the birthplace of Lincoln. For instance, Illinois is the only state where tollbooths still accept the penny.
Don't get me wrong, I mean absolutely no disrespect to Lincoln. In addition to being a badass with a sweet beard, he was a fine statesman. His hat was fantastic and so was his Gettysburg address. I'm not positive, but I think I remember hearing that Lincoln wrestled a bear once. Or maybe I just dreamt it. Either way, it's a pretty fun scenario to imagine.
Besides, at least Honest Abe will still have the five dollar bill. He'll also still have the Lincoln memorial, Mount Rushmore and that statue in the HUB-Robeson Center. That's a hell of a lot more than Howard Taft has to show. Pretty much all he has left is his legacy as the overweight president who supposedly got stuck in a bathtub and the guy who inadvertently started the "seventh inning stretch."
I digress. Sometimes, I get a little carried away when I talk about dead presidents.
What's the deal with that stench that's left on your hands after handling pennies, even for a few minutes? You can't count and roll 50 cents in pennies without getting that greasy residue all over your fingers. It's disgusting.
People worry about the effect this whole thing might have on charity organizations that rely a great deal on donated pennies. I think we need to have a little more faith in the willingness of Americans to help their fellow man.
I like to think that at the very least, most people probably just scoop up the handful of change in their pockets and drop it in the Salvation Army bell ringer's pail without much thought. Others even open up their wallets and grab a few bills.
Besides, UNICEF nickels has a pretty nice ring to it, once you get used to the concept.
Someday, there might even be "take a nickel, leave a nickel" trays next to our country's cash registers. Only time will tell.
Jim Tuttle is a senior majoring in journalism and a columnist for The Daily Collegian. His e-mail address is jft134@psu.edu.
