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Last Wednesday, the Illinois House voted in favor of a bill that would end the free ride CTA service for middle-income senior citizens. The vote was one of the many efforts the state of Illinois is taking to revitalize the heavily indebted CTA. Decreased bus and rail service, in addition to higher fares, are measures the CTA has taken within the past month. Now senior citizens who earn a certain amount will need to pay half-fare for their transit.
I heard the news on Wednesday and it saddened me. Fiscally, it makes sense: As the baby-boomer generation ages, the U.S. government is struggling to keep up with the advanced-life costs that this generation requires. Offering free ride services to anyone over the age of 65 puts the CTA in a precarious financial position.
Ethically, however, the initiative falls short. For many, free rides for seniors is considered a social service — not only does it provide a useful service, but it shows that, as a city, we’re honoring and acknowledging people’s needs — their often-limited finances, any difficulty some may have with transporting themselves, etc. Of course, the state needs to pinch its pennies. Which is why maybe the CTA and the Illinois House should be focusing on pennies as the solution to their problem — literally.
It’s a lesser-known fact that the value of the penny has depreciated so much over time that it actually costs more to make a penny than the penny is actually worth. To mint a penny costs roughly $0.0126, which means that every time a penny is manufactured, the treasury loses $0.0026. And although that doesn’t seem like a lot, it adds up over time substantially. Annually, over seven billion pennies are made in the U.S., according to Jeff Gore, a physicist at MIT and founder of retirethepenny.org. According to Gore, the revenue lost per year from the cost of making pennies is nearly $100 million dollars. Ouch.
Apparently, mining practices have become more regulated in the U.S. throughout the 21st century, and consequently the materials used to make pennies — copper and zinc — have risen in value, driving up their price. The highest production cost of a penny was in 2006, when the cost out weighed the value by a factor of two (according to the folks at WiseGeek, thankyouverymuch).
Knowing this, it’s almost depressing knowing that senior citizens — even if they aren’t technically low-income — will be the ones to stimulate the struggling CTA. When you consider the $100 million wasted making coins that people are more likely to throw in a fountain than spend, one has to wonder why it’s the elderly that are picking up the slack.
Granted, I know absolutely nothing about money or economics — my prowess is limited to random trivia about obscure 80’s sitcoms. I’m not saying there is a direct link between pennies and the CTA. I do know, however, that something is unethical about a government wasting $100 million dollars per year, and then shrugging their shoulders when it comes to public transportation — or any kind of social service, for that matter. Maybe if pinching pennies is our perogative, we should consider giving up those pennies for good, rather than skimping on some social services that will benefit the elderly. To keep manufacturing something that literally costs more than it’s worth — it’s just not common cents (get it?!)
For more information, log onto www.retirethepenny.org.
Sarah Watts is the Discourse Editor
swatts@luc.edu
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