Making cents: Is the penny's luck quickly running out?

One official wants prices to be rounded to the nearest nickel.
HARTFORD COURANT
Chronically underrated, snubbed time and again, it is one of America's most enduring underdogs. If there is any doubt of this, consider that its most recognizable defender is Kevin Federline, aka Mr. Britney Spears.
"I feel good about the penny," was about all Spears' husband could offer the beleaguered coin during a recent Virgin Mobile news conference in Times Square -- ostensibly for a Save the Penny campaign, but more accurately to pitch the wireless provider's 1-cent text-messaging plan.
Penny proponents, you're going to need some backup.
War has been waged, yet again, on the copper coin (actually, 97.5 percent zinc with a copper coating). Five years after his first attempt to stamp out the penny, Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., is taking another crack. With metal prices soaring since 2001, Kolbe is feeling lucky. He says it costs 1.4 cents to produce a penny, and estimates that minting the coins will amount to a $20 million waste this year.
Time to say goodbye?
Branding the coin a nuisance, Kolbe called the United States' currency policies "pound-wise and penny-foolish" and declared it "time for us to say that the penny stops here."
Nevermind that his proposed bill also seeks to stop the paper buck, in favor of a $1 coin, by 2007. And nevermind that it costs 5.73 cents to produce a nickel -- a coin that has eluded scrutiny.
Kolbe's penny solution: Round to the nearest nickel, down for cash transactions ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents and up for those ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9.
Critics say Kolbe wants to increase the power of the nickel, which is mostly made of copper, because Arizona is a huge producer of copper.
Americans for Common Cents, funded by the zinc industry, points to studies that show a majority of the coin-carrying public likes pennies just fine.
On the other side is Citizens for Retiring the Penny. The nonpartisan group cites a study from the National Association of Convenience Stores that says futzing with pennies at the register tacks two seconds onto each cash transaction. Using that math, the group figures that's four wasted hours per person per year. And because time is money, it figures that amounts to $60 per person and $15 billion nationwide.