The cost to mint pennies and nickels has reached a new record high. For the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, it now costs 2.41 cents to mint each penny and 11.18 cents to mint each nickel.
There is no logical reason to continue minting pennies. Even transactions that depend on coins, like vending machines and parking meters, don't accept pennies because they're essentially worthless. In the 1970's a penny had the same value a nickel does today and our economy didn't suffer without a coin worth 1/5 of a penny.
Let's set aside the sentimental attachment we have to the coinage we all grew up with and implement a simple, non-partisan solution that will have a tangible, positive effect on our economy. For the 2011 fiscal year, we lost $116.7 million printing pennies and nickels.