Synthesis Essay About Pennies

Pennies, for a majority of people, are just little worthless pieces of mass that are left basins collecting dust, being thrown into water fountains for luck, and at times are refused at supermarkets because of how little they are worth. Along with what the average American does with their pennies, the smallest United States currency is costing us more than seven million dollars a year, in the retail business alone. The Department of Defence doesn’t think that pennies are even worth it. As stated by Chris Ward in paragraph one of Source #2, “Pennies are too heavy and are not cost-effective to ship.” As well as, according to Source #2, “The U.S. Congress is considering eliminating the penny from the United States currency system.” We believe that pennies should be eliminated from U.S. currency because they cost more to make than they are worth, a large number of countries have already rid of the penny with great success, and there is already a system in

uses to create pennies. Pennies have been created since 1982 using a,“...copper-plated zinc, with zinc making up 97.5 percent of the coin and copper only 2.5 percent,” according to paragraph fourteen in Source #1. People have considered using other metals, such as steel, which would be a better and cheaper substitute for the making of pennies. Steel has been used to make cents before, back in World War II. Source #4 paragraph four states that, “In 2011, it cost the U.S. Mint more than 2.4 cents to produce one penny. This has led many to argue that the penny is inflating the economy and should be eliminated.” It states again in paragraph four of Source #4 that, “Even though production costs are slightly lower today, the penny still costs the U.S. just over 1.8 cents to produce,” which means the great tax paying American citizens are paying for more than what is being