The US should abolish the penny

Okay, dropping a few definitions of my own, not conflicting with any Pro provided. Hope Pro doesn't mind. Consumerism - the theory that an increasing consumption of goods and services is economically desirable. Instant gratification - The consumer receiving the good/service immediately or in an expedited manner upon paying for it, instead of a delay. Definitions adapted from merriamwebster.com My argument for keeping the penny is a simple one. Not everyone has a credit card. There are those of us who have to make do with the money in our pockets when we go spending. The penny allows for cashiers to make change more easily. For example, a $0.99 item (after tax) is being paid for with a one dollar bill. Well, the change for that is... wait for it... one penny. Sure, that is a specific example, but still, convenience. For reference, consumerism is still alive and well here in America. The penny, as it is now, is a medium of exchange, legal tender, for all debts, public and private, here in America. An announcement of an attempt at abolishing the penny would result in an uproar unless it coincided with a sporting event. The way the debate statement is phrased, abolishing the penny would cut down on the money supply a bit, but so would contractionary fiscal policy. We are paying 1.7 cents per penny for convenience. Sure, there are downsides, such as a bunch of pennies being really heavy, but they have machines like Coin Star* for that. You are paying for convenience when it takes 10% from your monies, but you can now get bills and nickels on up, and drop the penny in the chain's pet project charity of the week's box if you so desire. The term for such a thing is instant gratification. Another example of instant gratification from our daily lives is fast food, such as In-N-Out or McDonalds. You get your food very quickly, allowing you to resume your life sooner than if you went to a sit-down restaurant. There are those that would say, "Hey, fast food is cheaper than sit-down." Yes, that is true. However, fast food can and does serve more customers overall, which means they can have lower prices, to attract more customers. Yet again, In-N-Out would be a prime example of this. A better example of instant gratification would be the one-day or two-day shipping options when shopping online. "You want this thing? You want it now? Pay a little extra to get it!" As far as I can tell, *This, and all the other examples given aren't advertising; I'm just using the examples I know. A very good question for those penny-punters (not pinchers) would be "What then? Do all existing pennies become worth the alloys they are made of?" Chances are, they just saw an example of waste and wanted to smite it, initiate sweeping reforms, and get a statue (made of smelted pennies or something pretentious yet awesome like that) somewhere. A buyback program would work... up until pennies don't show up in multiples of five. Would we round up or round down in such a case? If we round up, we're throwing money at people. If we round down, we're taking even more money from people. If we round up, the government loses in the short run, which is bad for the politicos, but good for the people. If we round down, it looks better on the balance sheet for that year, but a lot of people just lost a few pennies. Admittedly, people would probably lose less than they spend on a cup of coffee on any given day, but there would still be a bit of outrage, and outrage is bad for the incumbents. And now the rambling bit that I really should write better, but because of reasons, I only had twenty minutes to write this, because of a prior engagement that I should have remembered earlier that, fortunately, let out early. Wishing wells and/or the Uncomfortable Truths Well would have a lot more nickels, dimes, and quarters in them. We already have issues with fractions of cents. Don't make it worse by getting rid of the penny. It's easier to use a Coin Star, take it to the cashier, and deposit it in a savings account than it is to do a buyback. How much change do you have lying around that you won't find for a couple years? How long is the aforementioned buyback program in effect? Which way was it going again? Were they rounding up or down? Will it simply take place at a bank, or will there be specialized facilities? All of these are legitimate concerns. In conclusion, the penny is still a viable medium of exchange and store of value. By all means, we should keep it around.