Is It Finally Time to Say Goodbye to the Penny?

The penny has been the one cent coin for more than 220 years. 220 years. It began as a giant 1 inch diameter coin that weighed more than 5 of today's pennies combined. Then again, back in the day, the penny could actually buy something. There are very few things you can get today under a dollar, and I don't think anything can be purchased for a penny. But why? Why can't we use America's most popular coin?
That's a very good question, and it can be answered very simply: the penny is worthless.

Worthless.

Now that isn't completely true. The penny still has some purchasing power, but because of the wonders of inflation, the penny is the least powerful coin ever in the history of America. It's worth 10 times less than the half cent was when it was taken out of production more than 150 years ago.

And on top of all this, it costs the mint (paid for by the government (by you, the taxpayers)) more than two and a half times the value of the coin just to make it.

2.5x the value of a penny?Why would do we keep making them?

Not only do we continue minting these "cent"imental coins, the mints produce them by the billions per year. With more than 300 billion pennies made since they were first introduced, how could we possibly need more? These two parties have plenty to say on this matter.

Citizens to Retire the Penny                vs.                              Americans for Common Cents