IT WOULD BE A START ANYWAY:

Pennies are more of a burden than a help to us. This year, the U.S. Mint will churn out 4.3 billion of them, more than twice the annual output of all other coins combined. Because the penny costs more than a cent to produce, the Treasury loses more than $100 million per year on the coin's production. Production is up in part because of hoarding, and in part because more and more people are throwing them in jars or drawers and never taking them out again. Few people now bother to pick up a penny when they see it on the street. It's simply not worth the effort.

A growing number of experts are concluding the penny is too picayune to bother with. "The purpose of the monetary system is to facilitate exchange, but the penny no longer serves that purpose," Harvard professor N. Gregory Mankiw, a former chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, has argued. "When people start leaving a monetary unit at the cash register for the next customer, the unit is too small to be useful."

When the half-cent was abolished in 1857, it was worth more than eight cents in today's currency. People afterward had no problem living and conducting business, even though the new smallest unit of currency -- the penny -- was worth more than today's dime. No major problems with transactions were reported, even at a time that predated the many cashless means of electronic transaction we enjoy today, which, even after penny abolition, can preserve prices to the exact cent if people so choose.

A few months back I was at the main Apple Store in New York City. I wanted to buy a case for my son's iPod touch--but it was December 23. The crowds were so thick, I envied sardines.

Fortunately, I knew something that most of these people didn't: I could grab an item off the shelf, scan it with my iPhone and walk right out. Thanks to the free Apple Store app, I didn't have to wait in line or even find an employee. The purchase was instantly billed to my Apple account. I was in and out of there in two minutes.

Apple, in other words, has reached new heights in reducing friction--which benefits it as much as its customers.

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