Washington, D.C. – The US Mint is reportedly ceasing production of the penny, following a directive from the administration of Donald Trump, citing the increasingly prohibitive cost of manufacturing the one cent coin. A Treasury Department official confirmed on Thursday that the Mint has placed its final order for penny blanks and intends to discontinue coin production once these supplies are exhausted. This move comes as the cost of producing pennies has surged by over 20 per cent in 2024, according to the Treasury.
By halting the penny’s production, the Treasury anticipates an immediate annual saving of $56 million (approximately £44.24 million) in reduced material costs. This information was shared by an official speaking anonymously, as they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly before the official announcement. In February, the controversial US figure, Donald Trump, publicly announced that he had ordered his administration to cease production of the one cent coin. In a characteristic post on his Truth Social platform at the time, Trump declared, “For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
There are currently an estimated 114 billion pennies circulating in the United States, representing a total value of $1.14 billion (approximately £0.9006 billion), but the Treasury contends they are largely underutilised. The penny was one of the inaugural coins produced by the US Mint following its establishment in 1792. While the nation’s Treasury Secretary holds the authority to mint and issue coins in amounts deemed necessary to meet the needs of the United States, any permanent cessation of the penny’s production would require legislation from Congress, which dictates currency specifications. Past congressional attempts to eliminate the penny have, however, failed.
Advocates for discontinuing the penny highlight its escalating production cost, which the US Mint now estimates at almost 4 cents (approximately 3.16 pence) per penny, along with its diminishing practical utility. Conversely, supporters of the penny cite its ongoing usefulness in charity drives and argue that its production cost remains relatively low compared to the nickel, which currently costs almost 14 cents (approximately 11.06 pence) to mint. The news was initially reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Despite its perceived inefficiencies, pennies remain the most frequently produced coin by the US Mint, which reported manufacturing 3.2 billion of them last year. This volume accounted for more than half of all new coins produced in the previous year. Two bipartisan bills aimed at permanently eliminating the penny were introduced this year. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, and Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, introduced the “Make Sense Not Cents Act” this month. In April, Representatives Lisa McClain, a Republican from Michigan, and Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, alongside Senators Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, and Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, introduced the “Common Cents Act.”
Jay Zagorsky, a professor of markets, public policy, and law at Boston University, supports the move to end penny production but stresses the critical need for Congress to include language in any proposed legislation that mandates rounding up in pricing. He argues that this measure would eliminate the demand for pennies. Zagorsky, who recently published a book titled “The Power of Cash: Why Using Paper Money is Good for You and Society,” warned that simply ditching the penny without such a provision would only increase demand for nickels, which are even more expensive to produce. “If we suddenly have to produce a lot of nickels — and we lose more money on producing every nickel — eliminating the penny doesn’t make any sense,” he concluded.
Mark Weller, executive director of the Americans for Common Cents group, which conducts research and provides information to Congress and the Executive Branch on the penny’s value and benefits, acknowledges that “there has been an evolution over the past six months that inevitably the production of the penny will be halted.” His group advocates for the US Treasury to find ways to reduce the cost of producing the nickel, especially given its anticipated increased demand once the penny is entirely removed from circulation. “It’s incumbent on Treasury to come up with a cheaper way to make the nickel,” Weller urged. “Let’s make sure we’re making our coins as least expensively as possible and maintaining the option to use cash in transactions.”
