AAFES (US Army & AF stores) doesn't even use pennies overseas.. they accept them, but change given is rounded.

I like pennies because my kid likes pennies. He uses them to practice counting and arithmetic. Every other day or so we put the change we've collected into his piggy bank (which really isn't a pig). We talk to him about saving money and investing. He gets excited when we take it to the bank. For that reason, I like pennies.

Remember, a penny saved is a penny earned (minus opportunity costs for picking it up, transportation costs, and the 0.89 cent per penny adjusted for per capita cost of production based upon your highest marginal tax rate).

There was a whole thing about this on the West Wing a couple of years ago. The best reason given for keeping the penny there was that Lincoln was on the penny and some Congressman from the Land of Lincoln would never allow the penny to be abolished.

But it should be. Living in Australia and then England has shown me that when coins are worth something you pay attention. The "no penny" system in Oz is great. You still end up with a pile of 5 cent pieces, but they are pretty easy to get rid of.

The other thing that bugs me is the dollar bill. It just takes up space in your wallet. Hopefully we could get rid of the penny and have a real dollar coin. I know the video game industry would be all for that.

So a $1 bill just takes up space in your wallet but a dollar coin wouldn't?

Rich, I'll gladly take those space hungry dollar bills off your hands.

As long as there are strippers, there will be $1 bills.