ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 16 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans oppose abolishing the penny, even though there's not much you can buy with them anymore, except maybe pay sales taxes.
New York Times columnist William Safire recently suggested the country dump the penny because it costs too much to mint and retailers find it an inconvenience. A bank this week refused to take a man's life-long collection of 1 million pennies, but a discount store took them and gave him a $10,000 check.
Many gas stations and convenience stores leave a pile of pennies on the counter for people who need them.
Nearly 60 percent of a nationwide poll of more than 2,100 adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive said keep the penny. The poll was conducted between June 10 and 16.
Twenty-five percent of respondents said scrap the penny.
Sixty-two percent of respondents with incomes under $25,000 said keep the coin, while 53 percent of more affluent people with household incomes of $75,000 or more said abolish the penny.
