United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1996-07-16 monographic deposited born digital 21 p. GA 1.13:T-GGD-96-153 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-153 P0b002ee180370930 f:gg96153t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-153 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-153 T-GGD-96-153 Currency and coinage Cost control Economic analysis Monetary policies Contractor personnel Administrative costs Overhead costs Proposed legislation Cost effectiveness analysis Public relations Civil Service Retirement System Testimony GGD GAO discussed the continued production of the U.S. penny. GAO noted that: (1) Congress needs to address several issues in deciding the future of the penny; (2) the government spent $8.5 million to $9.2 million in fiscal year (FY) 1994 distributing and handling pennies; (3) public attitudes towards the penny are mixed, but the majority of the public supports retaining the penny; (4) in FY 1995, almost 66 percent of pennies did not circulate compared to almost 12 percent of quarters; (5) it could not determine the full budgetary impact of eliminating the penny, but the U.S. Mint would be negatively impacted if billions of pennies were returned; (6) eliminating the penny would result in the loss of jobs for the two contractors who produce zinc penny blanks and for other related businesses; (7) states' ability to collect sales taxes would not be affected by the elimination of the penny, but charitable donations might be affected; (8) penny production and disposal cause no signigicant environmental problems; (9) proposed legislation would provide a framework for rounding to the nearest nickel and would exempt noncash transactions from the rounding requirement; and (10) military facilities in Europe eliminated the penny in 1980 and received few complaints. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-153/html/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-153.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-153/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-153.pdf GAO/T-GGD-96-153 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-153 Testimony GAO/T-GGD-96-153; Future of the Penny: Options for Congressional Consideration; Currency and coinage Cost control Economic analysis Monetary policies Contractor personnel Administrative costs Overhead costs Proposed legislation Cost effectiveness analysis Public relations Civil Service Retirement System