Rich,
how can you destroy items "proudly" made by our illustrious US Mint??

I have discovered that many of them will make it through the counter at Home Depot's self serve checkout, and I keep a small amount of them in my watch pocket to return them to circulation. I also attempt to minimize the amount of them I dig. Isolated targets that ID as zinc and sounds like zinc, in a field filled with modern stuff will not be recovered by me.

Of course, the rotted ones with the bite taken out of them don't fare well in counting machines.

My suggestion for the cent coin is either to discontinue it or make it out of cardboard so I can use it as mulch in my garden.