push legislation to end the printing of the penny.

As of 2012, it costs the U.S. Mint 2.00 cents to make a cent because of the cost of materials and production. This figure includes the Mint’s fixed components for distribution and fabrication, estimated at $13 million in FY 2011. It also includes Mint overhead allocated to the penny, which was $17.7 million for 2011. Fixed costs and overhead would have to be absorbed by other circulating coins without the penny. The loss in profitability due to producing the one cent coin in the United States for the year of 2012 was $58,000,000. This was a slight decrease from 2011, the year before, which had a production loss of $60,200,000. Please, Mr. President, fight off the penny lobbyists (yes, there is an actual lobby for the penny) and end this drain on the US economy.