You've heard the joke about the two guys who buy melons for $1 and sell them for $1 and wonder why they don't show a better profit. "We gotta get a bigger truck," one of them says.
Which is, apparently, what the United States Mint is doing 
with pennies, but at less of a profit. According to the New York Times, it costs the government 14 cents to make 10 pennies. The Mint will make approximately 9 billion pennies this year, a $90 million value, at a cost of, what, $126 million? Now that's a good idea.
It may be time to come up with a better plan. Here's one thought on getting pennies out of circulation, out of production. Either that or the U.S. Mint will need to get a bigger truck. A much bigger truck.
