Bottom line, pennies cost more to make than they are worth.
"The underwater economics of minting pennies is well-known: It costs about two and a half cents to mint a cent, primarily due to the cost of the copper and zinc that go into each coin."
- http://www.nbcnews.com/business/kill-bill-us-says-dollar-coins-would-sav...
Death to pennies. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UT04p5f7U
Also, many other countries have eliminated their one cent pieces, some even their 5 cent pieces.
Do this small thing to help decrease the deficit. The more pennies that are minted, the further we go into debt. Pennies cost 250% of what they are worth. It is time to get rid of them.