Pennies are no longer worthwhile to mint. The production cost of the penny has exceeded its value as legal tender. (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/12/15/just-how-much-does-it-cost-to-...)
As important as tradition may be, minting pennies is needless and negligent.
If one penny costs 1.7 cents to make, and 8.15 Billion pennies were made last year (http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/index.cfm?action=productionFigures&...), that comes to 57 Million dollars wasted by just minting them. (That's before distribution costs)
It's time to change change and make cents make sense.
Retire the penny.