Penny Post much needed reforms in the current postal system. On 10 January 1840, the Uniform Penny Post was established throughout the UK, facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap conveyance of letters, and from 6 May could be prepaid with the first postage stamp, known as the Penny Black. Elihu Burritt proposed that a fixed rate of one penny be established for all mail throughout the entire British Empire as a means of facilitating international interaction and international unity. This was known as the Ocean Penny Post. On Christmas Day, 1898, the Imperial Penny Post extended the rate throughout the British Empire
Penny debate in the United States Penny debate in the United States A debate exists within the United States government, and American society at large, over whether the one-cent coin, commonly called the penny, should be eliminated as a unit of currency in the United States. Several bills introduced in the U.S. Congress would have ceased production of pennies, but none has been approved. Such bills would leave the nickel, at five cents, as the lowest-value coin in the United States. In 1990, United States Representative Jim Kolbe [R-AZ] introduced the Price Rounding Act of 1989, H.R. 3761 to eliminate the penny in cash transactions, rounding