Why do we have so many pennies?

We have a lot of pennies compared to the other coin denominations.  Why do we need so many?  Well, there is a simple reason.  For each step up in denomination there is a multiplication factor.  So you need 5 pennies to make 1 nickel, you need 2 nickels to make 1 dime, you need 2.5 dimes to make 1 quarter, and you need 4 quarters to make 1 dollar.  This multiplication factor tells you the approximate proportion of a certain coin you'll need in comparison to the others.  So in an ideal world, for every 10 pennies they mint, they should mint 4 nickels, 5 dimes, and 8 quarters.  As you can see, I'm only factoring in the most widely circulating coins.  Obviously if the half dollar circulated the same as the others, we'd only need half the number of quarters.  This presumes that one denomination of coin lasts (or stays in circulation) just as long as any other denomination.  If the dime, for example, was not as resilient a coin as the others, or got lost more frequently (and thus was removed from circulation) we would see the mint making a lot more dimes than necessary to replace the ones that were taken out of circulation.
Of course, this doesn't happen with the dime quite as much as it happens with the penny.  That's why 60 to 70% of the coins coming out of the mint are pennies, instead of 37% as would be the case in ideal circumstances.  The mint has to keep up with the demand! The penny is the only coin in circulation that doesn't circulate!  Retailers get pennies from their banks in order to keep pennies in their registers so they can give them out as change.  So the banks have to get more pennies from the mint so they can supply the retailers.  And what do we do with the pennies when we receive them as change?  Do we use them to purchase other goods?  Do we deposit them in our bank accounts?  The numbers say that we don't.  The numbers don't lie.  Those pennies end up in sofas, drawers, piggy banks, or landfills...and never return to circulation. So the mint keeps cranking them out, due to this false demand.
The penny lovers think that getting rid of the penny will enforce a rounding tax on the consumers and cost Americans billions of dollars.  Actually the reverse is probably true.  Instead of flushing the billions of dollars in pennies down the proverbial toilet, instead we would actually spend or save it!  That is putting billions and billions of dollars back into our pockets!