Look out, it's the coppers!
By: Kendra Henry
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Opinion/Editorial
After years of cluttering my pants pockets and lining my couch cushions, a venerable, pecuniary alloy has finally worn out its welcome. Failing to see the modern day value of this antiquated denomination, I have recently converted to the church of the five and dime. In essence, I'm thumbing my nose at America's original one cent wonder - the penny.
I can already feel the vibrations as old Ben Franklin spins in his grave. Franklin designed the original, copper-pressed penny back in the 1790s when the United States sought to standardize coins for trade and business purposes. The front side of his masterpiece featured a sun, sun dial and the phrase "mind your business."
With the exception of a rare batch of pennies minted in 1943, pure copper pennies ceased to exist in 1837 - partly because various war efforts required copper for military production and partly because the metal became too expensive. Today's penny is composed of 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper.
But, even with all the changes in the penny's composition, those babies still cost more than a pretty penny to make. According to a 2009 report by the U.S. Mint, the government spends 1.62 cents to produce each 1 cent piece.
As a result, the Obama administration is calling for another change in the makeup of the penny - as well a metallurgic overhaul for its higher-valued siblings.
In the proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Budget, the administration calls on the U.S. Department of Treasury to "explore, analyze and approve new, less expensive materials for all circulating coins based on factors that will result in the highest quality of coin production at the most cost-effective price."
That's like investing in the comeback tour of Milli Vanilli. A record company could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars reformulating that crappy duo only to be left with the same hollow, worthless bit of lip-synching tripe it had before.
Investing money to increase the cost-effectiveness of penny minting is senseless - especially when the government could simply cease its production altogether. After all, the coin's popularity appears to be waning.
I can already feel the vibrations as old Ben Franklin spins in his grave. Franklin designed the original, copper-pressed penny back in the 1790s when the United States sought to standardize coins for trade and business purposes. The front side of his masterpiece featured a sun, sun dial and the phrase "mind your business."
With the exception of a rare batch of pennies minted in 1943, pure copper pennies ceased to exist in 1837 - partly because various war efforts required copper for military production and partly because the metal became too expensive. Today's penny is composed of 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper.
But, even with all the changes in the penny's composition, those babies still cost more than a pretty penny to make. According to a 2009 report by the U.S. Mint, the government spends 1.62 cents to produce each 1 cent piece.
As a result, the Obama administration is calling for another change in the makeup of the penny - as well a metallurgic overhaul for its higher-valued siblings.
In the proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Budget, the administration calls on the U.S. Department of Treasury to "explore, analyze and approve new, less expensive materials for all circulating coins based on factors that will result in the highest quality of coin production at the most cost-effective price."
That's like investing in the comeback tour of Milli Vanilli. A record company could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars reformulating that crappy duo only to be left with the same hollow, worthless bit of lip-synching tripe it had before.
Investing money to increase the cost-effectiveness of penny minting is senseless - especially when the government could simply cease its production altogether. After all, the coin's popularity appears to be waning.
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