Chris Isidore, in an article on CNN Money, wrote:
"To be precise, it cost 2.4 cents to make one penny in 2011 and about 11.2 cents for each nickel.
"Given the number of coins that the mint produces -- 4.3 billion pennies and 914 million nickels last year alone, those costs add up pretty quickly: a little more than $100 million for each coin." (http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/15/news/economy/pennies_nickels/index.htm?h...)
It is only logical to stop making this coinage. Pennies do not even have enough buying power to be used at vending machines or parking meters. Some charities find that it takes more to sort and roll pennies than those pennies are worth.
For more information check out CPGrey's video on YouTube, "Death to Pennies" (http://youtu.be/y5UT04p5f7U)