The penny is officially on the way out
The U.S. Treasury has officially made its last order of blank pennies, marking the beginning of the end for the one-cent coin, which has been in circulation for over two centuries.
'[T]he United States Mint will continue to manufacture pennies while an inventory of penny blanks exists,' a Treasury Department spokesperson told NBC News on Thursday, with the last of the new pennies set to enter circulation early next year.
Last year was the 19th consecutive fiscal year that the cost of producing the coin was above its face value. In 2024, the cost of making the penny increased 20%, according to a report from the U.S. Mint. The one-cent coin currently costs the government 3.69 cents to make. Halting penny production is expected to save taxpayers $56 million annually.
Without new pennies entering circulation, the supply of the coin will eventually dry up and force businesses to round prices to the nearest nickel. However, nickels also boast high production costs; each five-cent coin costs the U.S. Mint 13.78 cents to make.
Proposals to eliminate the penny have come from both sides of the aisle. Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon joined forces to introduce the Make Sense Not Cents Act.
'It's the opposite of 'common cents' for taxpayers' dollars to fund wasteful spending like producing pennies,' Merkley said in a statement. '[T]hat is something that both Democrats and Republicans support to seriously take on government waste.'
President Donald Trump has also pushed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies. 'For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!' Trump wrote on Truth Social in February. 'I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.'
While Congress has the authority over the discontinuation or elimination of coins, the Treasury Department can halt new production.
A recent YouGov poll found that 42% of Americans favored eliminating the penny, while 30% opposed. In that same survey, one-third of Americans said they don't use pennies in their daily lives, the highest share for any denomination.
The last time a coin denomination was discontinued was in 1857, when Congress eliminated the half-cent coin.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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