President Trump, in a recent statement said, “Do not make more copper pennies.”
The US Mint department (Treasury) officials, on the one hand, confirmed it. Because the cost of making pennies has increased by upward of 20% in 2024. On the other hand, by stopping the penny’s production, the Treasury expects an immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs.
My logical answer to President Trump is: Five pennies make a nickel, 10 pennies are equal to a dime, 25 pennies give us one quarter. Half a dollar is not very common, but we receive 50 pennies. While a dollar replenishes exactly 100 pennies in a day-to-day business. If I buy a product for 99 cents out of my dollar bill, the cashier at the check register would say, Sorry, I have no penny to give you change.
Ultimately, business owners argue that transactions are more likely to be rounded off upwards than downward without the penny. And that could have a marginal inflationary impact, as experts say losing a penny would have a negligible effect on consumers, indeed.
I know a penny doesn’t make any difference in somebody’s financial life, but remember, 99 cents are still not a whole dollar unless you add another penny to make a dollar even.
Zafar Yousufzai
Fremont
