Is the penny worth keeping?

Has the penny controversy ever really gone away?
On my way to grade school, I would transfer from one bus to another in downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota. While waiting for the Summit Avenue bus at 8th and Phillips, I would look into the window of a lower level barber shop and watch men pitch pennies.
Now an article in the Wall Street Journal asks, Is it time to pitch the penny?
Zinc is the main ingredient making up over 97% of the metal in each penny coin. With the cost of zinc constantly increasing, can we still afford to keep minting the penny?
Zinc is now over $2 per pound making the metal cost of minting pennies more than the face value of the coin.
Penny enemies say fumbling for pennies at cash registers wastes time and money.
Pro-penny partisans counter that the mix of metals in the coin could be changed to cut costs.
The mint estimates that the cost to make and distribute each penny is about 1.23 cents.
If the mint changed to use less expensive metals the penny could end up like the forgettable once cent made during World War II.
The old wartime lead penny was less welcome than the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin (on the left above), also known as the Carter quarter, or the golden colored Sacagawea dollar (on the right above).
A lot of people refused to accept the old wartime lead pennies claiming it was bad luck to even touch the coins.
Most retail merchants will fight any plans to discontinue the penny. Retail prices ending in 99 cents would need to be reduced to 95 cents costing Big Box stores thousands of dollars per store each month.
The penny controversy may be with us for a long time.