If Abraham Lincoln were alive today, he would say, “Why is my face on a coin worth 1/26 of what it was when I was president?” 100 years ago, a penny could buy a whole newspaper, yet in this day and age, a penny is virtually useless. The once glorious coin has devolved into a useless, time wasting, money squandering, excuse of a currency. It is of the utmost importance on the national scale that the penny be abolished.

According to NBC News, in 2012 it cost 2.41 cents to make one penny, more than twice its actual value. During that year, $58 million alone was spent on penny costs. Granted, this only accounts for a minute percentage of total federal spending, less than 1/10 of a percent, millions are still being wasted on a worthless coin. As zinc and copper, the materials used to mint pennies, became more expensive, this will raise costs further in the future.

In the current economy, one cent is essentially useless. Nothing can be bought for .01 of a dollar. Even at laundry machines, parking meters, and vending machines, a penny contains no purchasing power and sometimes is not even accepted for use. Since nobody ever uses this insufferable coin, they get lost and the money spent on producing them gets wasted. The lifespan of a penny consists of being minted, given as change, and then either dropped on the ground, forgotten or stuck in a jar until the never coming rainy day.

At the store, there is always that person in the front of the line who fumbles for the correct change. According to the organization Citizens to Retire the U.S. Penny, fishing for pennies adds about 2 to 2.5 seconds to each cash transaction per day. Time that could be better spent on searching for the cure for cancer or ending the government shutdown is wasted. Professor Robert Whapels of Wake Forest University estimates that this loss in time costs the US economy $300 million each year. By destroying the penny, the US will save valuable time and money.

The arguments to keep the penny consist of one main point. Sentimentality. To keep the penny is to preserve Lincoln’s legacy. To the people thinking that the abolition of this currency will somehow undermine everything Lincoln has done is ludicrous. His esteemed presidency will be forever embedded into the five dollar bill which, unlike the penny, will not be destroyed anytime soon.

Additionally, traditionalists argue that without the penny, charities will suffer from a lack of donations. In the elimination of one cent pieces in other countries, there have been no major announcements reporting lower donation amounts. On the contrary, donations may even rise because people will be forced to pay more than just a penny’s worth.

Now, some may be hesitant to abolish the penny as they fear America’s entire economic balance will collapse. However, the traditional coin must be destroyed for a better currency system. Countries such as New Zealand, Canada, and Australia have already destroyed their one cent coin, and America could easily follow in their footsteps. The simple plan consists of: stop minting pennies, round prices to the nearest five or ten cent, and continue accepting pennies until they are eventually eliminated. The frustrating coins would still be allowed as currency. However, after being spent, they would be returned to the national mint, so the amount in circulation would slowly decrease. If paying in credit, the exact amount would be deducted, and if paying in bills, the price would be rounded to the nearest fifth cent. No country that followed this plan has had any increase in price nor a drop in charitable donation. There are no side effects and the possibilities are endless.

Money has one purpose, to facilitate an exchange, and in this aspect the penny has failed immensely. Through inflation, it has become increasingly useless. A penny cannot buy someone a penny, as the production of the coin costs more than their spent value. Everybody knows this country needs to save as much money as possible, however it is impossible to save when money is constantly being wasted. To retire the penny is to retire a coin that has outlived its worth.