Save your pennies,” my father told me, “and the dollars will take care of themselves.”

That still holds true, although a penny doesn’t buy much these days. That little copper penny is really worthless in today’s economy.

Gone are the days when you could give your child a penny to run down to the neighborhood drug store to get some candy. When I was little we could get a small sack of candy for a penny. Now, it would cost about a quarter to get the same amount of sweets, providing you could find a place that still carries penny candy. Oh, you might find a few drug stores that still carry penny candy for the kids, (we have one in Boardman) but very few.

The penny is virtually worthless, so why does the U.S. Mint still stamp out millions of pennies a month?

They are becoming a nuisance. Most people won’t bend over to pick up a penny in the street, unless they are superstitious. Even at the store, there’s a penny-cup where you can toss your pennies so others can use them if they are short a penny. That way the clerk doesn’t have to load you up with four more in change.

If they are so useless why does the government keep making 10 million of these pesky little coins every day?

I’m sure the retailers would gladly raise the price of a $9.98 item to an even $10 or perhaps reduce it to $9.95, which would save the consumer a lot of money in the long run.

It would make good sense to save the money it costs to produce those pennies and put it to better use elsewhere in the government, where it is really needed. Can you imagine how much it costs to mint that number of pennies each day? It might even help the budget to eliminate that one cost.

I’m sure they won’t stop minting pennies just because I think it would be fiscally responsible. After all, they have to think about the jobs that would be lost, not only at the mint, but at the mines where zinc is produced; which is what pennies are actually made of. We get most of our zinc from Canada and Alaska, who would definitely lobby against eliminating the penny.

I always read William Safire’s columns in the New York Times. Wednesday’s column was titled “Abolish the Penny,” which made me stop and think about how useless the penny really is.

Safire said, “The time has come to abolish the outdated, almost worthless, bothersome and wasteful penny.”

How right he is. The cost of living has risen so high that the penny has become insignificant. My pennies are taken out of my purse or pocket and dropped into a bottle. When I get desperate I roll them and turn them in for dollars, which are shrinking in value as well. If everybody is like me, no wonder they have to make millions of pennies each day.

My dad collected coins and his collection was quite extensive. When he decided to remodel his home in Sequim, he sold off some of his collection, including two penny collections. They brought quite a nice sum to help in his remodeling job.

Maybe we should save our pennies, just in case the government finally stops making them. And then, those jars of pennies would end up being worth quite a bit of money-at least to collectors. That may be all they are good for.

Betty Kuhn, of Boardman, can be contacted at bkuhn_1@Msn.com or the East Oregonian, P.O. Box 1089, Pendleton, OR 97801.