Musk isn’t introducing a novel idea. For years, people have advocated eliminating the penny, as pennies are rarely spent as change. And since the Covid-19 pandemic, more consumers are shopping online or avoiding physical currency altogether .

Pennies cost more than 3 cents each to make, which has the little round Lincoln heads in the crosshairs of Elon Musk’s new Department of

A penny-pinching tactic proposed by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency could be getting rid of the penny itself.