Making Pennies Benefits the Economy!

This idea is expressed by penny lovers in various forms.  Whether it's creating jobs, facilitating purchases, or whatever, penny lovers feel that the world is better off with the penny.  As far as creating jobs, I think this is a valid point.  After all, over half the coins that the mint produces are pennies.  If pennies were no more, the mint would have to lay off half of their production workers, unless they start producing something else, like a $2 coin. Plus the zinc producers would have to find someone else to buy all their zinc. But if the US Mint is your biggest customer, then you will have to do some lay-offs and restructure your business.

Another concern arises if they switch the composite materials used to make the penny.  If they switch from zinc to steel or some other cheaper material, then all the zinc workers that produced the metal for the mint, have to go work for the steel producers.  Of course, the US has changed coin composition before, though not for more than 30 years.  The economy (jobs included) does adjust to these changes, but there are those individuals that are adversely affected. Of course, if they do switch the metal, then the pro-penny lobbyists will lose their biggest supporters, the zinc industry.  After all, they won't have a vested interest in making sure the penny stays anymore.

So, when changes are made, there is always a trade off.  Do the benefits of the change out-weigh the costs? Or are the costs way too high?  The penny lovers think the economic costs are way too high and the benefits too low, the penny haters think it's the other way around.

In all of this, make sure you don't see the US Mint as a "business".  They are a government agency set up to provide benefit to its citizens.  They should do that in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible, but whether they are making or losing money is less relevant than whether the cost is worth the service they are providing.  Your local fire department doesn't "turn a profit" for your local government, but the service they provide is typically worth the cost.  They should provide what is needed and not any more (a town of 10,000 people doesn't need 600 new fire trucks, for example).  Similarly, the mint should be providing us the coins we need to transact business in the most efficient manner and no more.