To the Editor,
I find myself both amused and annoyed at President Trump’s recent executive order to stop minting pennies. I’m amused because it’s kind of fun to watch him as he tries to keep himself in the news with executive orders of debatable value. I’m annoyed because this executive order also shows his lack of interest in thinking through his ideas before he tosses them into the news cycle.
To be fair to the president, there are some arguments for dropping the penny. The February 10th online edition of Time (yes, Time is still in business) pointed out some of these reasons as follows:
- The main argument against the penny is the one made by Trump: it costs more to make than its value. A 2024 U.S. Mint report says the unit cost for the one-cent coin is more than 3.69 cents and has exceeded its face value for 19 years.
- Producing pennies also takes a toll on the environment due to the mining the ores to make the coins. (Although I doubt this weighs much into Trump’s concerns about the penny.)
- The penny is, effectively, too small a denomination to be useful. Just check out all the pennies left for change at the convenience store or sitting in penny jars all over the country.
However, there are some reasons for not doing away with the penny which include:
- A pro-penny group, Americans for Common Cents (ACC), argues that eliminating the penny would require producing more nickels to “fill the gap in small-value transactions.” But nickels suffer from a similar “seigniorage” problem: the 2024 U.S. Mint report said the five-cent coins have a unit cost of 13.78 cents each.
- Economists say that eliminating the one-cent coin would have disproportionate impacts on the poor because the poor tend to use cash more. An economics student in Canada, which stopped minting one-cent coins in 2012, found in 2017 that rounding “imposes a tax of $3.27 million Canadian dollars from consumers to grocery stores on a yearly basis.”
- Some defenders of the penny also point to charities, which have historically been able to collect huge sums of coins because of how easy many people find they are to give away, though according to the New York Times, charitable “roundups” on credit card transactions can be even more lucrative.
So, there you have it. Clearly, the elimination of the penny, while not earth-shattering in its effect, is a bit more complicated and far-reaching than President Trump has considered. In fact, following his logic, elimination of the penny because it costs more to make than its face value would only lead to a more expensive “waste of money” by minting more nickels.
So, Mr. President, let’s leave well enough alone. Sure, the penny isn’t a money-making venture, but people are used to it and there really isn’t any compelling argument for getting rid of it that isn’t matched by a equally good reason to keep it.
Now, please get back to working on lowering the cost of living for your millions of supporters who have to pinch pennies to get by every day.
Mike McCarthy
Little Falls, NY
A strong case of TDS for sure.
Mike, we heard all that on the news. Nobody cares about your opinion you need to get a hobby. Thank you.
Bobo,
Thanks for the comment but, this is my hobby.
Mike
Bobo,
Thanks for the comment, but this is my hobby. 😄 it’s good to know you already knew about these different positions.
That said, what’s is your take on this pennies controversy?
Mike
Norm, thanks for comment. Your TDS diagnosis is duly noted.
That said, what’s your take on the whole pennies controversy?
So you are worried about the whole pennies controversy and not the previous administration giving billions to Ukraine and not helping the people in North Carolina? USAID spending taxpayer dollars on the most outlandish things? This doesn’t bother you?
Don B,
Apologies for not replying to your comments earlier. I just saw your response I want to reply to your questions.
First, I am actually not all that upset about the whole pennies situation. I focused on it because I see it as a meaningless distraction from the work that Trump agreed to take on when he ran for president and was elected into office. In short, he should spend a lot more time, focusing on the problems of the working class in this country, like he said he would, and not on creating distractions to allow him to do other things that are not what people elected for him to do.
Second, my position on Ukraine is simply whatever expense It takes now to keep Russia from achieving its imperial objectives for Ukraine is far less than it will cost us to eventually go into a war with Russia when they invade a NATO country.
Third, I believe the federal government’s response to the damage caused by Hurricane Helene was far better than one might believe based on the misinformation pushed by then Candidate Trump and amplified by social media. What happened in North Carolina was a tragedy caused by a natural disaster that overwhelmed efforts to bring relief to the residents of the area. I only hope that when the next such disaster happens, the federal government will still be able to do what’s necessary to help whoever is harmed.
In closing, thanks for taking the time to provide your feedback and questions. I appreciate you sharing your opinions.
Mike McCarthy
You made a great response.