Pure Pedantry : Should We Lose the Penny?

Reality is always more complicated than you think.

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Jake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.

Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.

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Should We Lose the Penny?

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Posted on: July 19, 2006 9:00 AM, by Jake Young

Huh:

Representative Jim Kolbe wants to do away with the penny - and for a second time has introduced legislation that would effectively kill it.
The Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act would force the rounding off of all cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents, making the penny coin useless for everyday transactions.

The move is in part a reaction to the rising cost of zinc - the penny's main ingredient - which at current prices brings the cost of making the coin to 1.4 cents each.

Kolbe introduced similar legislation in 2001 when prices for metals weren't as high. The bill failed to pass or even to make it to a floor vote. Since then, however, zinc costs have nearly doubled.

Personally I say good riddance, but then again I will be happy when we dispense with money entirely and conduct transactions with unique IDs embedded in chips in our heads. (I tend to lose small items like credit cards, wallets, cell phones, and other people's children.)