Dan Braganca

[T]he other (arguably stronger) case for abolishing the penny–saving time lost to fumbling cashiers–remains as solid as ever. Considering that pennies add 2 to 2.5 seconds to each cash transaction, economist Robert Whaples has calculated this country’s penny-induced productivity loss at $300 million annually. Former Bush economic adviser Gregory Mankiw puts the figure at $1 billion, while anti-penny activist Jeff Gore argues that it’s actually in the neighborhood of $10 billion.

Now that pennies cost more to make than they are worth there is every reason to rid our monetary system of this zinc-plated environmental disaster.