“It costs roughly 2 cents to make each penny,” says Jeff Gore, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2014, the U.S. Mint made about 8 billion pennies — at a cost of more than $130 million.

Gore says you also have to consider the time people waste fumbling for pennies at the cash register.

“There are essentially no benefits associated with using the penny, yet there are significant costs,” he says.