Turns out those pennies are more valuable than you think! With the surging prices of copper, zine and nickel, the Associated Press reports that, as of Tuesday, it cost 1.26 cents to make a penny. Nickels are also more valuable than the five cents the store will give you credit for - they cost 7.7 cents to make. Seems a penny is 97.5 percent zinc, and prices for zinc have quadrupled since 2003. The other 2.5 percent is copper, which also makes up 75 percent of a nickel, and copper prices have tripled in that same time frame. Congress is considering adding more steel to the mix to bring down the cost, but meantime, what should we do? I was thinking about taking my pennies and nickels to the store and asking them to give me their actual market value, but somehow, I don't think that will fly!