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Although the penny is the smallest unit of U.S. currency, it can still make memories.

There are 114 billion pennies in circulation right now. Everyone has seen and held a penny. We grew up with them. We used them to buy carnival treats, play an arcade game, or ride the horse at Meijer.

After 230 years of circulation, the last pennies in the United States will be manufactured in 2026, and the final batch of copper and zinc was bought in May.

With the move towards online currency and the increased use of credit and debit cards, it was inevitable that the penny would be discontinued. But where do we draw the line on what needs to be removed and what would be convenient to remove? 

The main reason that pennies are no longer being minted is that pennies cost more to manufacture than they are worth. Pennies aren’t worth that much, and no one really uses coins anymore. However, the government’s decision doesn’t help to represent the whole population. Although people may overlook it, many places in the U.S. don’t use card readers because cash is much less of a hassle. Cash is consistent in the sense that you don’t need to register with a bank and give them your money. Cards also require card readers, so in places that are more focused on small businesses or things like school events, card readers aren’t as common. Cash can be used almost anywhere because anyone will take it. 

The removal of the penny marks a significant point in history. Before the 1970s, every dollar was backed by gold, a valuable metal. Now, we are getting ever closer to a society that does everything digitally. Yes, it’s convenient. But convenient is not what we need. We need tangible evidence of what we own; otherwise, it can just as conveniently be taken away from us. 

While the penny’s use is not as necessary in an age when we can order any product from anywhere, it still holds important implications. There’s no way to decide what “value” is when there is nothing to back it. If we don’t have physical currency, then inflation will be even more common, as it already is in so many countries. Not only that, but how do we decide how much is enough to buy something? 

Another problem with digital currency is its quantity. There is no physical quantity to determine how much money there is. People could easily steal money without lifting a finger. Our money shouldn’t be taken away from our control because, if we don’t have any physical assets, only bank accounts with money, we don’t really have money; we just have the right to use it. Plus, computers are not a secure way to store currency. There have been countless times online currency has been stolen, like cryptocurrency hacks. We just don’t have the technology to store our money securely, and even when we do, we still don’t really own that money; the people who store it do—if they are people. If there were ever a case where a big organization handled digital currency, no one person could make a significant change. We need to stop centralizing everything we own because it’s easier. We need to own what we earned ourselves.