And for brevity's sake, I'm abbreviating these names to ACC (Americans for Common Cents) and CRP (Citizens to Retire the Penny). (Most of the sources for these arguments can be found at the following webpages: Citizens to Retire the Penny and Americans for Common Cents)
ROUND 1: Do Americans really want to get rid of the penny?
ACC: After a poll taken in 2012, more than two-thirds of adults wanted to keep the penny. Over the years, the majority has always been in favor of keeping the coin to preserve it as well as a couple fears if it was removed (Don't worry, I'll touch on these topics later).
CRP: Well, they've got Obama on their side. Oh, the Department of Defense too! Actually, there haven't been many pennies on overseas bases for the U.S. in the past 30 years because its too expensive and unnecessary to ship out these valueless coins.
WINNER: ACC Americans really like their pennies, what can I say?
ROUND 2: If, if, we were to get rid of the penny, wouldn't rounding cost us more?
I'll let the CRP explain their side first here CRP: Well, getting rid of the penny isn't that much of a crazy idea. Canada got rid of theirs in 2010, New Zealand got rid of theirs decades ago, as well as their nickel, and so did Australia and the UK, and they all now use the rounding system with no real hiccups. Robert Whaples of Wake Forest University even conducted a recent study of more than 200,000 transactions from all walks of life to see if anyone is getting away with an extra couple cents. The truth is, both store and consumer broke even...
ACC: Yes they worry about merchants raising their prices, but given the sales tax, its difficult to pinpoint a way to always make out ahead of the game when it comes to transactions. (Ever think about gas prices? They tack on 9 tenths of a cent... but we pay it anyway)
The rounding system has been proven to work over decades of testing and implementation and the CRP have the facts to back it up
WINNER: CRP
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