Everything seems to be getting less valuable.
The US Mint has announced a final order for penny blanks and will cease coin production by early next year.
This move follows President Trump’s directive in February to stop producing pennies due to their rising manufacturing costs.
“Let’s cut waste from the budgets of our great nation, even if it’s just a penny at a time,” Trump stated back then.
Over the last decade, the cost to produce a penny has surged from 1.3 cents to 3.69 cents, with a noteworthy 20% increase occurring last year, according to the Mint.
Ending penny production is expected to create significant savings—about $56 million annually—as facility operations and other related expenses decrease.
Once the supply of pennies dwindles, businesses will likely have to adjust consumer prices to the nearest five cents, mirroring Canada’s experience when it discontinued its one-cent coins.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on these developments related to the US Mint’s actions.
Even though the penny has decreased in value, it remains the most commonly produced coin in the nation. The Mint recently stated it produced 3.2 billion pennies last year, representing over half of all new coins minted.
Currently, there are around 114 billion pennies in circulation across the United States.
So far, two bipartisan bills have been brought forth in Congress to put an end to penny production.
On May 1, Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the “Make Sense Not Cents Act.”
The penny was among the first coins minted after the US Mint’s founding in 1792.
Since then, its design, composition, and materials have changed numerous times, evolving from pure copper to various zinc-copper mixtures.
Abraham Lincoln’s image first appeared on the penny in 1909 to mark the 100th anniversary of the 16th president’s birth.
