Caity Weaver calls it the "Perpetual Penny Paradox." In a New York Times Magazine story about the American coin, she tries to understand why the US keeps minting them when almost nobody uses them. The piece has a "it would be funny if it weren't true" vibe, with the bonus of actually being funny. Weaver begins by noting that most pennies produced by the Mint and doled out as change never get spent:
- "Because these replacement pennies will themselves not be spent, they will need to be replaced with new pennies that will also not be spent, and so will have to be replaced with new pennies that will not be spent, which will have to be replaced by new pennies (that will not be spent, and so will have to be replaced). In other words, we keep minting pennies because no one uses the pennies we mint."
At this point, an estimated 240 billion pennies are out there, not being used. So many that if they were used, the logistics would overwhelm banks. So why do we keep making them, especially since Treasury officials and even presidents have been pointing out the coin's failures for decades? "Political inertia" is a factor. (Weaver tries to get an answer from the Treasury Department, which refers her to the Federal Reserve, which refers her to the US Mint, which refers her back to the Federal Reserve.) Others cite sentimentality or lobbyists (in, say, the copper and zinc industries), but Weaver says the real answer that we put up with the uselessness of the penny is simpler: "We may have forgotten that we don't have to." Read the full story for her full explanation. (Or check out other longform recaps.)
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