When was the last time you stopped to pick up a penny? Given
that its purchasing power has dwindled to nearly nothing over
the years, it’s probably been a while. The U.S. penny persists —
but how long can it hold on? On Feb. 4, Canada will begin taking
its pennies out of circulation, citing cost (it takes 1.6 cents
to mint each one) and diminishing utility. And America’s anti-
penny forces are hopeful that actions by our neighbor to the
north will spur Washington to eliminate U.S. one-cent coins,
each of which costs two cents to mint. Indeed, it gets
increasingly difficult to defend a coin that costs us all money
every year. But there are forces fighting for the status quo as
well, including the zinc lobby. (Pennies are mostly made of
zinc, not copper.) Plus, there’s the fact that without the
penny, we’ll become more reliant on the nickel — a coin with
it’s own sticky set of issues. Check out the latest TIME
Explains video to get a sense of the U.S. penny’s persistent
problems; and this week’s issue of TIME Ma