This isn't really a political thread, but I don't know where else to put it.
Many of my friends in person know that I am opposed to pennies... I have hated them since my mission to Spain, when I saw how effective it was to have the 5 peseta piece be the minimum people would use. The value of the peseta was roughly equal to the value of the penny at that time, so in essence people were paying for everything with nickels. Prices in Spain are generally rounded to the nearest 5 eurocent (or the "duro," as they call the piece. Kindof like how we call a dollar a "buck," in Spain, everyone calls the 5 eurocent piece the "duro."). If something costs 6 cents, the cashier asks for 5 cents. If it costs 8 cents, the cashier asks for 10. It is a wonderful system that keeps the annoying little euro pennies (and before, the 1 peseta pieces) out of peoples' pockets. So, since my mission I've been talking about us maybe getting rid of the penny as well, and moving to a 5-cent-based system.
With the news this week that a penny actually costs 1.4 cents to make now, I've decided that it's time for me to move forward with my plan. I've started a blog called "No More Pennies" that I intend to grow over the next few months to include petitions, "Send Your Pennies Back" drives, and other grassroots programs to educate people on getting rid of pennies. See the blog at
http://nomorepennies.blogspot.com
This may sound strange to you, but I'm tired of pennies. They are worthless and they do nothing but clutter space.
Tim
(P.S. No, this is not a joke.)