Released: July 03, 2006

Anti-penny push provokes passions

Source: Associated Press [CNN.com]

In Plymouth, Mass., the village settled by thrifty Pilgrims, you can still buy penny candy for a penny, but tourist Alan Ferguson doubts he’ll be able to dig any 1-cent pieces out of his pockets. He rarely carries pennies because “they take up a lot of room for how much value they have.” Instead, like so many other Americans, he dumps his pennies into a bucket back home in Sarasota, Florida.

Pity the poor penny! It packs so little value that merry kids chuck pennies into the fountain near the candy store, just to watch them splash and sink. Stray pennies turn up everywhere: in streets, cars, sofas, beaches, even landfills with the rest of the garbage.

A penny bought a loaf of bread in early America, but it’s a loafer of a coin in an age of inflation and affluence, slowly sliding into monetary obsolescence. For the first time, the U.S. Mint has said pennies are costing more than 1 cent to make this year, thanks to higher metal prices.

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