Poll Center: Banish the Costly Penny?

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BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION of SmarTrip on Metrobus, commuters in the D.C. area could use pennies for their fare and when it was just $1.10 per ride (most buses today are $1.25 per ride). But penny-dumping bus passengers would often clog fare machines. And the newer SmarTrip-enabled fare machines don't allow pennies.

At this writer's apartment, the coins have piled up in jars, destined someday for a CoinStar machine. But perhaps all those pennies should be cashed in quickly. There are proposals floating to get rid of the penny because the price of zinc is rising — pennies are now mostly made of zinc, with a copper coating — and it now costs almost two cents to produce each one-cent coin.

For today's Poll Center question, we ask: "With the cost of materials rising, should the U.S. mint stop producing pennies?" Go vote (and comment) here and see how your fellow commuters voted, station by station, line by line.

» "Jarden Lobbies to Protect the Penny" [AP via Forbes]
» "Poll Center: August 16, 2007" [Poll Center/Express]

Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images