PENNIES
Money wasted: $82 million-plus
A penny costs more to make than it’s worth, and that’s been the case for 12 years and counting. Still, in 2016 the U.S. Mint wasted $46 billion by issuing pennies at a production cost of 1.5 cents apiece. The nation’s annual loss is closely related to global metal prices, which reached their peak in 2011, when pennies cost 2.41 cents apiece.
