The cost of 1.7 cents to make the 1-cent penny means every year, American taxpayers pay $7 million for the privilege of losing another billion dollars due to the opportunity cost of time spent fiddling with pennies! We could partially solve this problem by using steel instead of zinc to make pennies, which we in fact did during WWII, but the penny would still be useless. Currency is created to facilitate commerce, but the places where we most often use coins, such as parking meters and vending machines, do not accept pennies. In 1972, a penny was worth what a nickel is worth today, but the economy managed just fine without a coin worth 1/5 of a penny. Getting rid of it would not raise prices, lower charity contributions, or do anything to the economy except make it more efficient.
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