Pre-1982 pennies now contain 2.41 cents worth of copper.

[granville]

What about the legality of smelting Canadian pennies in the USA? Or USA pennies in Canada?

 

[ElCubano]

i just went thru like 30 pennies in my drawer and found only 1 1982....how can this become more effecient??..im in...

 

[volente_00]

My guess is that banks already do this and exchange them for newer coins. The problem would be transporting them. You try to take a lot out of the US to melt and you will get friction from the patriot act.

 

[Murray Ruggiero]

How do they melt silver coins, why is that legal ?.

 

[NTB]

This whole affair was just declared illegal recently (mid-December), melting, transporting for the purposes of melting, etc. Prior to that (at the time of the original posting), it was not illegal. A simple google search on the idea will tell you all about the recent events and the fact that it has recently become illegal.