The same is true in the United States. Printing paper currency is hugely profitable for the federal government: The $100 bill is one of the nation’s most valuable exports. Quarters and dimes are moneymakers too. But it costs $1.43 to produce 100 pennies. Last year, making pennies cost taxpayers almost $39 million.

And for what? The federal government makes and distributes coins to facilitate commerce, but not much can be bought for less than five cents. Thanks to the magic of inflation, what cost a penny in 1950 requires a dime today.

Average American workers earned nearly a penny a second in 2015. It’s literally not worth their time to bend down and pluck one from the sidewalk.

In effect, eliminating the penny means all retail prices would end in zero or five. Some prices would rise a few pennies; some would be rounded down. Prices that end in 99 cents are common, and penny proponents have argued that eliminating pennies would amount to a one-cent sales tax. But Robert Whaples, an economist at Wake Forest University, actually examined this claim in 2007 by looking at pricing data from a chain of convenience stores. He reported that the savings from prices rounded down would roughly offset the cost of prices rounded up.