The U.S. penny cost 2.4 cents to mint (as of February 2011). As it stands according to the usmint.gov 4644.99 Million pennis are in circulation today. The penny adds time to free market transactions and in the current market is not useful. The median wage in the U.S. is 17$ an hour placing a penny at two seconds of work. The estimated loss of the U.S. population without calculating for the actual money wasted on the penny being minted is 300 Million. The U.S. has discontinued a coin before the half cent in 1857. The half cent was worth eleven pennies today. Our Neighbor Canada is getting rid of their penny Australia has gotten rid of its penny and so has Finland, New Zealand and many others.



