Pennies are Zinc/Copper coins that represent 1 cent, or 100th of a dollar (114th of a single euro). As is quite apparent, pennies are basically worthless. As a matter of fact, a penny is not even worth the metal it is minted on. Which is why the US outlawed melting down pennies for profit, because they cost more to make than the value they are supposed to represent. Money is meant to be a medium of exchange for convenience, as not everyone has what someone else wants. The penny no longer serves that purpose, as you simply can’t buy anything with them. This has gotten so bad that vending machines and other automatic vendors don’t accept them. Picking a penny up, even if it takes a few seconds, would net much less money than the minimum wage.
In addition, the constant inflation rate of 2% will render the penny even more useless over time than it already is. The process of creating these coins are also very harmful to nature. It is wasteful in both time and resources, and the refinement of the metals used in pennies releases a lot of Sulfur Dioxide and other toxins into the environment. Zinc is very useful for galvanization and manufacturing, while Copper is mainly used in alloys and electronic wiring, and has one of the best conductivity of any metal, only beaten by silver.
Getting rid of pennies will also force companies and stores to round their prices to 5s, as they rightfully should. Scummy practices like adding .99 at the end of prices will cease to exist, and transactions with clerks will naturally become faster, as will the customer waiting times. Removing pennies from circulation would not only make life easier for the consumers and clerks, but it would also save money and energy for the government, which could be better used elsewhere, such as the alleviation of poverty through education, improved medicine, clean nuclear energy, and other technological advancements.