Future of the Penny

Options for Congressional Consideration Gao ID: T-GGD-96-153 July 16, 1996

In reviewing whether the United States should continue to produce the penny, GAO found that several factors, including government costs, public attitudes, budgetary and operational consequences for the Mint and its contractors, and the fairness of rounding prices to the nearest 5-cent increment, warrant congressional consideration. Among key findings, GAO found that although it costs less than a penny to mint a penny, the government in 1994 lost between $8 million and $9 million after costs involved in distributing pennies were taken into account. Public opinion on the penny is mixed: a GAO poll found that most Americans prefer rounding to using pennies, but a similar number believe that the penny is useful and should be retained.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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