No More Penny for Your Thoughts

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No More Pennies For Your Thoughts

Treasury Begins the End for Penny Production

One-cent coins are expected to stop entering circulation early next year. Businesses will need to round prices up or down. The U.S. government is phasing out the penny which has been in circulation for over 200 years.

The Treasury Department will stop putting new pennies into circulation by next year. Afterward, there won’t be enough pennies to use in everyday cash transactions, and businesses will need to start rounding up or down to the nearest 5 cents according to the Treasury. The federal government has officially made the first step to end the production of pennies. The end of penny production marks a change in a 233 year tradition, as the penny was one of the first coins made after the U.S. Mint was established in 1792.

The government recently made its final order of penny blanks, flat metal discs that become coins. The United States Mint will continue to produce pennies while the inventory lasts, but after the supply runs out, the production of United States pennies will end.

Set in motion by President Donald Trump, the Treasury is to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their value. According to the 2024 U.S. Mint report, it took 3.7 cents to produce and distribute one penny in fiscal year 2024 – meaning the government loses nearly three cents on every penny it mints. The 2024 cost was up by 20% from the previous year, partly due to rising costs of metals like zinc and copper.

Even after the government stops producing pennies, existing ones will remain legal tender. However, retailers may choose to round cash transactions to the nearest five cents as the penny supply dwindles, as eventually, stores would not be able to get new rolls of pennies from their banks.

It is unclear how much longer the government will mint pennies before they run out of blanks. Additionally, there is an estimated 114 billion pennies currently in circulation, meaning that it will take a while before pennies are phased out of everyday use.