Nearly a quarter-century ago, an episode of “The West Wing” posed this question:

What is the most ubiquitous man-made object in America that does not interact with any mechanism or machine?

The answer is the penny, though as the show itself noted, they do interact with Coinstar machines in an awful circle of pointlessness. I also note that pennies interact with penny-smushing machines, which turn them into something useful, or at least less useless.

Last fall, I linked to a piece on the tyranny of the penny, and it’s worth a re-read. It really is monumentally stupid that this coin has survived so long. Now, the era of the penny may finally be coming to an end, as the Treasury will cease production of the penny soon.

Unfortunately, simply stopping production of pennies is a half-measure. Perhaps it will force the issue and lead to a price-rounding law. Absent that, however, it’s just going to lead to a shortage of pennies in stores, and annoyance for all.