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(Editor's Note: This week's discussion topic: Do you think it is time for a serious national discussion of the idea of getting rid of the penny, or does this remain a "politically impossible" undertaking?)

While I don't think it's going to happen (eliminate the penny), Yes!

I think we are several years overdue to stop fooling with pennies. I used to leave my pennies in the container at the register, but many businesses keep them instead of using them as intended.

The penny will survive for the same reason gas is still priced at 9/10 of a penny. I guess the "penny wise, pound foolish" also applies to dollars!

Get real people! The government is trillions of dollars in debt and you're worrying about pennies! And for every four pennies produced, it costs us a penny in taxes, plus the cost of distribution and handling.

Norm Beavers
Tyler

I say "No," for the reasons expressed in your Sunday edition, May 11. That is, increases in postage, gasoline tax, sales tax, etc. would have to be in 5-cent increments rather than 1/2- or 1-cent increments.

Rather, have a campaign to get all the pennies in coin drawers back in circulation.

Doris Williams
Hawkins

You might not think much of a penny but, today in church it was a different story. On the second Sunday of each month, at the First Assembly of God Church, we have a contest between the boys and the girls.

The church has a plywood man that holds his hand out and there is a bucket in each hand, with the boys on one and girls on the other.

The pastor asks that the girls come up first and put pennies into the bucket, and then it's the boys turn. The adults will also bring pennies in case a child forgot to bring any to put in the bucket.

There is someone standing behind the plywood man so that they won't know until the very end which side gave the most pennies. Which ever side loses they have to stand and give a clap for the other side for a job well done, this includes the adults.

The pennies collected go to a children's mission. This also teaches our children to save, but the joy in giving for a good cause. No, we do not want the pennies to go away. It's easy for someone to collect pennies but it would be so hard for some to collect nickels or dimes.

For me, the penny has a special place. I can be having a bad day and go to either the grocery store or the service station or anywhere and I look down and there is a penny, when I reach down to pick it up I thank the Lord for sending a sign from an angel that everything will be OK, it's just me and my thinking.

Some people will not pick one up if it's either heads up or tails are up cause of bad luck. It doesn't matter to me 'cause I think of a child that might need that penny to put in the bucket on Sunday so that they can feel important also in giving.

You would be surprised at how much money is collected for the children's missions just from pennies.

Good old Ben Franklin was right, a penny saved is a penny earned. Please keep the penny.

Amelda Penn
Overton

By directing the Treasury to find cheaper materials for making nickels and pennies, Congress is plastering over a problem created by Congress itself. That problem is inflation, and pot metal pennies won't solve it. If today's penny costs 1.26 cents to make, that means that Congress has inflated our money by 26 percent since the time when it cost a cent to make a penny.

Our money is fiat currency, that is, it is not backed by gold, silver, or anything of intrinsic worth. Its value is declared by order, or fiat, of the government. Therefore, the government is responsible for maintaining the value of the currency. Whenever the government spends more than it takes in, the deficit is effectively paid for by printing more money.

The more of anything, the less value it has. The government always spends more than it takes in, and that's why this year's dollar is always worth less than last year's.

We can get rid of the penny but eventually, unless Congress mends its ways, we will reach the point when it costs more than a dollar to print a dollar and the discussion will be about doing away with the one-dollar bill.

Inflation is a tax on savings and on fixed incomes. Social Security and government retirement checks are indexed to inflation, but company retirement plans are not. Thus inflation is an unfair tax on retirees.

It also discourages saving. So, instead of doing away with the penny, we should do away with those Congressmen who cause the penny's decline. If they stop spending more than they take in, inflation will stop. If they start paying off the federal debt, the value of the penny will rise until it will no longer cost more to mint than it is worth.

Charles Hayes
Tyler

As the price of metal rises, some people are calling for the cent to resign as a denomination. However, is it really time for such drastic measures to be taken? Could there be another solution to the problem? My answers to those questions are "yes" and "no," respectively.

The issue of the cost of minting coins is not new.

In the past, other methods have been implemented to curb the cost. In the 1700s and 1800s, the size of a penny was larger than a quarter, yet smaller than a half-dollar.

By 1857, however, the cost of making the copper coins had risen. The large one-cent coin was retired, and the smaller-sized penny, which circulates today, took over.

While reducing the size of the cent probably wouldn't help much, this does illustrate one way this issue was resolved.

Another solution that has been proposed is to find a substitute for the copper-coated zinc used to make pennies.

This method has been used in the past. During World War II, the composition of the five-cent piece was changed from copper and nickel to copper, silver and manganese.

In 1943, steel cents, coated with zinc, were also produced. The cost of copper began to rise in 1982, so copper-plated zinc pennies were being minted. This composition continues to be used today.

In some cases, production of money has had to slow down, or stop altogether. In 1922, so much emphasis was placed into coining silver dollars that no nickels, dimes, quarters or half-dollars were made (cents were still produced).

The Great Depression also hindered production of money. During 1932 and 1933 (which may easily be the worst years of the Depression), few coins, from cents to half-dollars, were made.

Instead of completely abandoning the penny, perhaps the number of cents produced in a year should be lowered.

In 2007, more than 78 billion cents were made in Philadelphia and Denver combined.

Though the cost of making a penny is rising, there are other ways to handle this problem.

The cent should be around for many more years to come.

James Caldwell
Tyler