I am contacting you to ask for your support of the retirement of the U.S. penny.
In 2011, the production cost of a penny was 2.4 cents per coin. With nearly 5 billion pennies minted that year, the U.S. spent almost $120 million to produce less than $50 million of circulating currency.
In addition, inflation has eaten away at the value of the penny to such a degree that it no longer facilitates commerce. In other words, the penny cannot buy anything (not even a penny)!
The Department of Defense abolished the use of pennies at overseas military bases more than 30 years ago. If the military deemed the coins "too heavy and not cost-effective to ship," the same logic could be used in the States, as five pennies weigh 12.5 grams compared to a 5-gram nickel.