The U.S. Mint has placed its final order for penny blanks and will cease production entirely by early next year, bringing an end to one of the nation’s longest-standing forms of currency, the Treasury Department announced Thursday.
The announcement comes after President Donald Trump stated in February that he had tasked the department to stop producing pennies, due to their high production cost. Pennies cost more to produce than they are worth — literally.
“Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump said at the time.
According to the U.S. Mint, in the past 10 years, penny production costs have increased substantially from 1.3 cents per coin to 3.69 cents, skyrocketing 20% in fiscal year 2024 alone.
By cutting the penny, it is projected to bring immediate annual savings of $56 million for the U.S. economy, as more is expected from reduced facility usage and other changes as the coin becomes phased out.
Without enough pennies in circulation, businesses will then have to start rounding prices up or down to the nearest five cents, which is a similar move to what Canada did when it stopped producing their one cent coin, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As the penny loses practical value, it still remains the most printed coin throughout the U.S.
The Mint reported making 3.2 billion of them last year, which is over half of all new coins that were produced. Currently, there are a staggering 114 billion pennies in circulation across the country, according to Mint.
Meanwhile, two bipartisan bills to end penny production have been introduced in Congress so far this year. On May 1st, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the “Make Sense Not Cents Act.” A day prior, Representatives Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), along with Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), filed the “Common Cents Act.”
The U.S. penny was one of the first coins produced after the U.S. Mint was established in 1792.
Since its inception, the penny has undergone numerous transformations in design, symbolism, and metallic composition. Originally minted from pure copper, it is now produced using a copper-plated zinc alloy.
Abraham Lincoln’s face was first molded onto the coin in 1909 to honor the 16th president’s 100th birthday.
https://www.oann.com/newsroom/u-s-mint-places-final-order-to-end-penny-production-following-trumps-order/
