The U.S. currently spends approximately 2.4 cents for every penny. As we progress into the digital world, the value of maintaining the penny in U.S. mint continues to diminish.
The current cost for the raw materials for a nickel is approximately 6 cents, with about 75% copper composition. If the raw materials of a penny costs 1.1cents, there should be a way to cut the materials of the nickel to 3cents.
Annually, the U.S. produces over 4 billion pennies, which means annual budget savings of $9.5 billion. The U.S. makes over 8 billion nickels a year, which means a feasible annual budget savings of $24 billion. If we are serious about addressing the deficit, there is $33.5 billion a year.
13 other countries have already done this successfully including Australia.