A Penny Problem

 Did you know that the penny costs 3 times it's value to make? The US mint spent 707 million dollars making coins last year and almost 60% of coins churned out by the US mint were pennies. Even more importantly, the US mint lost over 72 million dollars making pennies last year. To further think about it, If you lost a $20 bill, would you look for it? You probably answered yes, because $20 can be considered a considerable amount, but if you lost a penny, would you look for it? Most people would answer no, because 1 cent is such a small amount which is rarely used and doesn't really make a difference, but the un-noticed fact is that over time, all those missing penny's can add up to a large total amount of lost money. The average family throws away 68 million dollars worth of coins in a year- meaning, the value of coins, and pennies in particular is not valued. With a 72 million dollar loss and the rare usage and common wastage of a penny, it is questionable whether the penny should be continued to be produced. These facts lead me to question, Should we kill the penny?