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Here’s something we can all do for our country, and it’s a win-win: Cash in your pennies.

You know — the ones sitting in a jar with stray nickels, dimes and quarters. Or in a piggy bank, if you’re more well-organized.

Merchants are coping with a shortag e of pennies for making change, even though the Treasury Department says 114 billion of them are in circulation. The American Banking Association estimates there are about 250 billion.

The problem is that too many pennies aren’t really circulating. They’re accumulating in those jars. According to the Federal Reserve , the average household has $60 to $90 worth of idle coins at home.

An unnecessary shortage

The growing shortage of what should not be a shortage will get worse, becaus

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