Americans waste over six billion pennies a year with a desire to be rid of them. However, they could very well be hidden gems in our society. 

Pennies are ignored, discarded as trash, and often rejected as change, but they still serve a vital role in keeping the economy stable. The Executive Director of Americans for Common Cents, Mark Weller, published an editorial on the subject, claiming that pennies keep prices from fluctuating. If pennies were to be removed from the system, then product prices would be rounded to the nearest nickel instead of the nearest cent. This would not only raise prices for consumers, but would also prevent working citizens from earning more on their paychecks than they normally would for working the same amount of time. 

Between this and the vast amount of under-funded communities that continue to rely on cash transactions for purchases, we should have no choice but to keep pennies in circulation. 

For those who still cannot seem to find a need or use for these underrated relics, countless charities hold penny drives that raise millions of dollars for their cause, such as the Salvation Army, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the Ronald McDonald House. 

Pennies are extremely valuable to the economy, so if you still do not deem them important, many charities will gladly take them off of your hands.