Everything is making less cents.
The US Mint has placed its final order of penny blanks and will stop producing the coin when those run out by early next year — marking the beginning of the end for one of the oldest continually printed money pieces in America, a Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
The decision follows President Trump’s announcement in February that he had ordered the department to stop producing metal Lincolns due to their high production cost.
“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.
Over the past 10 years, penny production costs have skyrocketed from 1.3 cents per coin to 3.69 cents — jumping 20% in fiscal year 2024 alone, the Mint said.
Ending penny production is projected to lead to immediate annual savings of $56 million, with more expected from reduced facility usage and other changes as the coin is phased out.
Once there are no longer enough pennies in circulation, businesses will have to start rounding consumer prices up or down to the nearest 5 cents — similar to what Canada did when it stopped producing its one-cent coin, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the Treasury’s move.
Despite the penny’s loss in practical value, it remains the most widely printed coin in the US. The Mint reported making 3.2 billion of them just last year — more than half of all new coins produced.
There are currently a whopping 114 billion pennies in circulation in the US, according to the agency.
Two bipartisan bills to end penny production have been introduced in Congress so far this session.
Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the “Make Sense Not Cents Act” on May 1. A day earlier, Reps. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), along with Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), filed the “Common Cents Act.”
The penny was among the first coins produced once the US Mint was established in 1792.
Since then, it has undergone several changes in design, sign and metallic composition — going from pure copper to a blend of zinc and copper.
Abraham Lincoln’s face was first molded onto the coin in 1909 to commemorate the 16th president’s 100th birthday.
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