U.S. Mint places final penny order, ending production next year

The U.S. Mint will end production of the penny by early next year, citing high manufacturing costs and a directive from President Donald Trump.

The United States is preparing to retire the penny. The Treasury Department announced Thursday that the U.S. Mint has placed its final order for penny blanks and will halt production in early 2026.

President Donald Trump ordered the move earlier this year, saying the country should cut wasteful spending. "Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time," he said in February.

The cost of producing a penny has risen sharply. It now costs 3.69 cents to make a coin worth only one cent. That is up from 1.3 cents per coin just a decade ago. In 2024 alone, the cost rose by 20 percent.

Ending production is expected to save the federal government about $56 million each year. The savings could grow further with reduced facility operations and materials.

Without the penny, retailers and businesses will need to round cash transactions to the nearest five cents. Canada made a similar move in 2013 when it eliminated its one-cent coin.

Despite its declining value, the penny remains the most produced coin in the U.S. The Mint reported producing 3.2 billion pennies last year, accounting for more than half of all new coins. An estimated 114 billion pennies are currently in circulation.

Two bipartisan bills have been introduced in Congress to formally end penny production. Senators Mike Lee and Jeff Merkley introduced the "Make Sense Not Cents Act" on May 1. A similar proposal, the "Common Cents Act," was filed a day earlier by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate.

The penny has a long history in the United States. It was one of the first coins minted after the U.S. Mint was established in 1792. Abraham Lincoln has appeared on the coin since 1909 to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. Originally made of pure copper, the penny is now composed of a copper-plated zinc alloy.

The Mint has not said whether a final commemorative penny will be issued before the coin is discontinued.

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