EVERYONE HATES PENNIES, EXCEPT THIS GUY

Whenever the penny is threatened, one man stands up to defend it.

Mark Weller has been on a roll for three decades, arguing for the one-cent coin's existence every chance he gets. When the penny is slighted in newspapers, it's Weller who writes letters to the editor. He's extolled the coin's virtues on television and radio shows. The pro-penny group he runs, Americans for Common Cents, spits out facts to lawmakers about the benefits of the smallest unit of U.S. currency. And he's been to Capitol Hill countless times to convince Congress to keep the penny, which the U.S. Mint has been producing since 1793.

"The penny is wanted, needed, and appreciated," he said in written testimony in 2012.

Giving his two cents about the one cent isn't just Weller's passion. It's his job: He's a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., working for Artazn, a Tennessee company with a vested interest in keeping the penny alive. It produces blank coins that are sent to the U.S. Mint, stamped with Abraham Lincoln's face, and turned into pennies. Artazn also funds Americans for Common Cents.

For decades, lawmakers have tried and failed to banish the penny, arguing the copper-plated coin costs too much to make. Weller has always been there to hit back, saying prices at stores will be rounded to the nearest nickel, raising costs for Americans.

Now, he's facing the biggest fight of his career.

He flipped into high gear to get his message out. "In all the years I've done this, you haven't had a directive to the Treasury to suspend production," Weller said. In the past two weeks, he's had a series of media interviews and meetings with members of Congress and policymakers.

While Trump can stop the penny from being made, there's confusion on whether the president can eliminate it. Congress ultimately authorizes what coins are cut or minted.

Weller's journey to becoming a penny pusher started in the 1980s. He left a job in the U.S. Senate to work for Ball Corp., known for its glass jars with zinc lids. The company was diversifying and won a contract to produce blank pennies made mostly of zinc and coated with copper. (The penny hasn't been pure copper since the 1800s.)

Ball's zinc business separated and became Jarden Zinc. It was renamed Artazn five years ago. The U.S. Treasury has paid the company more than $1.3 billion since 2008 to produce the blank coins.

The penny-protecting business isn't always so busy. "There's some years where there's not much going on and others, like the situation we're in now, where it's pretty active," said Weller, who has also lobbied for RV makers and doctor associations.

To read the complete article, see:
Everyone Hates Pennies, Except This Guy (https://www.wsj.com/business/mark-weller-penny-defender-trump-d543a9de)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE PENNY PURGE: COMMON CENTS OR CENTSLESS? (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n07a29.html)

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