Americans for Common Cents
{{Short description|Organization}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Americans for Common Cents
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| abbreviation = ACC
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| formation = {{start date|1990|df=y}}
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| type = Interest group
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| headquarters = Washington, D.C.
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| leader_title = Executive director
| leader_name = Mark Weller
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| website = {{url|http://pennies.org/}}
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Americans for Common Cents is an organization based in Washington, D.C. that lobbies in favor of keeping the United States penny in circulation. It was established in 1990.{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/04/29/americans-for-common-cents-calls-for-penny-wise-policy/ | title=Americans For Common Cents Calls For Penny-wise Policy | work=Chicago Tribune | date=29 April 1990 | access-date=30 October 2014 | author=Boye, Roger}} The organization has conducted surveys and organized advertising campaigns in support of the continuing production of the penny. Its executive director, Mark Weller, has argued that eliminating the penny would lead to retailers rounding prices mainly up, not down, leading to inflation, but has offered little evidence to support this assertion.{{cite web | url=http://fortune.com/2012/04/11/dont-mess-with-the-penny-lobby/ | title=Don't mess with the penny lobby | work=Fortune | date=11 April 2012 | accessdate=30 October 2014 | author=Mitchell, Dan}}
History
The organization was established in 1990. That year, they commissioned a study which concluded that if the penny were eliminated, rounding purchases up to the nearest five cents could cost consumers $1.5 billion over a five-year period.{{cite web | url=http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/02/14/the-american-penny-how-its-managed-to-stick-around-all-these-years | title=The American Penny: How It’s Stuck Around All These Years | work=U.S. News & World Report | date=14 February 2013 | accessdate=31 October 2014 | author=Williams, Geoff}} In 2000, the organization asked Raymond Lombra to conduct a study on the effects of eliminating the penny on the rounding of prices. Lombra did so, and his study estimated that consumers would pay an extra $600 million per year in rounded-up costs were the penny to be eliminated.{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=20001209&id=V0RTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YoUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6381,2851112 | title=Economist: The Penny Just Makes 'Cents' | work=The Victoria Advocate | date=9 December 2000 | accessdate=2 November 2014 | author=Associated Press}} This averages to $1.94 per American based on a population of 309 million in 2010.{{cite web|author=Resident Population Data |url=https://www.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php |title=Resident Population Data – 2010 Census |publisher=www.census.gov |accessdate=February 22, 2013}}
In 2006, the organization joined Virgin Mobile and Kevin Federline to launch a publicity campaign in support of the penny, in which Federline emerged from a red truck wearing an Abraham Lincoln mask. A Virgin representative said Federline became interested in this topic because he likes text messaging.{{cite web | url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Business/story?id=2104103 | title=K-Fed Pleads for Pennies | work=ABC News | date=21 June 2006 | accessdate=30 October 2014 | author=Brady, Jonann}}
Funding
Americans for Common Cents receives funding from about 40 separate organizations,{{cite web | url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/2006-07-06-penny-usat_x.htm | title=A penny saved could become a penny spurned | work=USA Today | date=6 July 2006 | accessdate=30 October 2014 | author=Hagenbaugh, Barbara}} including Jarden Zinc Products, the company that sells zinc coin blanks to the U.S. Mint.{{cite web | url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/u-s-penny-to-be-kept-as-canada-bids-coin-farewell/ | title=U.S. Penny to Be Kept as Canada Bids Coin Farewell | work=ABC News | date=30 March 2012 | accessdate=30 October 2014}} In 2012, Weller, a lobbyist, was paid $340,000 by Jarden Zinc to discuss issues relating to minting with members of Congress and the US Mint.{{cite web |author=Weinberg, Ali |date=19 February 2013 |title=Penny pinching: Can Obama manage elimination of one-cent coin? |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/penny-pinching-can-obama-manage-elimination-one-cent-coin-flna1c8430291 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117223957/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/penny-pinching-can-obama-manage-elimination-one-cent-coin-flna1c8430291 |archive-date=17 January 2022 |accessdate=13 November 2023 |work=NBC News}} Weller has acknowledged this funding, saying that “We make no secret that one of our major sponsors is a company that makes the zinc ‘blanks’ for pennies."{{cite web | url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/13/do-pennies-still-make-sense/ | title=Do pennies still make sense? | work=Washington Times | date=13 February 2009 | accessdate=31 October 2014 | author=Harper, Jennifer}}
Surveys
In 1990, the organization commissioned a survey which found that 62% of Americans opposed eliminating the penny.{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/2a3d6eb97405cc0997d15902313abfab | title=Americans Getting Centimental About the Penny | work=Associated Press | date=24 May 1990 | accessdate=31 October 2014 | author=Benjaminson, Wendy}} They commissioned another survey in 2012 which came to a similar conclusion; namely, that about two-thirds of Americans supported keeping the penny.{{cite web | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/10/taxpayers-lost-105-million-on-pennies-and-nickels-last-year/ | title=Taxpayers lost $105 million on pennies and nickels last year | work=Washington Post | date=10 March 2014 | accessdate=31 October 2014 | author=Ingraham, Christopher}}