This video is part of our Kite & Key Shorts series—easy to understand...but hard to forget.
These days, your thoughts may be worth more than a penny.
Thanks to inflation, the one-cent piece is practically worthless.
How much has the penny’s value declined?
In 1900, a weekday edition of the New York Times cost just a cent.i
Today, the paper costs $2.50.
The craziest part: Pennies actually cost us money.
America spends around two cents producing a single penny.ii
In other words, making one penny costs...two pennies.
In 2019 alone, the United States lost over $72 million producing the coin.iii
So, why bother keeping it?
Some say that eliminating the penny will cost Americans money because sellers will round their prices up.
But research suggests that while some sellers may round up, others would round down. And consumers would break even.iv
Eliminating the penny would save the country a lot of money.
Even ‘Honest Abe’ would probably approve.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- It costs around two cents to produce a single penny.
- The United States lost over $72 million producing pennies in 2019 alone.
- Eliminating the penny likely wouldn’t raise costs for American consumers.
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