Producing a single United States penny costs the federal government roughly three times its actual face value due to the rising prices of zinc and copper.

A closer look

Producing a single United States penny costs the federal government roughly three times its actual face value due to the rising prices of zinc and copper. The US Mint consistently loses millions of taxpayer dollars every single year just to manufacture a virtually worthless coin that most citizens throw into jars, drop into storm drains, or simply refuse to pick up off the sidewalk. Despite numerous campaigns from economists begging Congress to kill the one-cent piece, the zinc lobbying industry fights aggressively to keep it in circulation. It perfectly encapsulates the majestic efficiency of government bureaucracy, where we literally hemorrhage real money to create fake money that nobody wants, just to appease a handful of mining executives who probably do not even carry loose change!