US Treasury Makes Final Order To Kill Production Of The Penny
The Trump Administration and US Mint has officially made its final order of penny blanks as a part of their plan to stop producing the coin once those run out, according to a Treasury Department official.
The Treasury noted that the biggest reason behind this is due to the increased cost it takes to produce new pennies. In fact, in 2024 the cost of penny production increased nearly 20%. The Treasury is expecting to save about $56 million annually in reduced material costs, Associated Press reports.
The penny was one of the first coins made by the US Mint after they were established in 1792.
On his Truth Social site, Trump wrote: “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.”
The Treasury reports that there are around 114 billion pennies currently in circulation in the US, which equates to $1.4 billion, however, pennies themselves aren’t utilized.
The US treasury Secretary has the power to mint and issue coins “in amounts the secretary decides are necessary to meet the needs of the United States,” AP reported.
According to the US Mint, it costs about 4 cents to make one penny, and the fact that it’s highly underused among Americans is a main driving factor for ceasing production of all future pennies.
Although advocates for stopping production of the penny have stated its an underused piece of currency in the US, advocates state that the penny is useful for charity drives and compared to other coins in the nation, it’s actually cheaper to produce.
For example, it costs about 14 cents to mint a US nickel. Pennies are also referred to as one of the most popular coins made by the US Mint. They produced 3.2 billion pennies alone last year, which is more than half of all the new coins made within the last year.
Trump’s order is now heading to Congress to decide if it should be made permanent or not. However, there have been multiple congressional efforts made in the past to stop producing pennies and all have failed.
Jay Zagorsky, a professor of markets, public policy, and law at Boston University, told AP that Congress needs to use specific language in any proposed legislation to end penny production that makes it clear why there’s a need to eliminate pennies.
“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,” Zagorsky said.
Mark Weller is the executive director of the Americans for Common Cents group. The group conducts and provides research to Congress and the Executive Branch on the value of the penny. Weller told AP: “There has been an evolution over the past six months that inevitably the production of the penny will be halted.”
Weller explained that if Congress truly wants to get rid of the penny, they need to understand how much of a demand for nickels will arise.
“It’s incumbent on the Treasury to come up with a cheaper way to make the nickel. Let’s make sure we’re making our coins as least expensively as possible and maintaining the option to use cash in transactions.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
