Penns are about to retire after serving Americans faithfully since 1787. The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it will no longer place any orders for Penny Blanks. This means that once the current supply runs out, new pennies will not be introduced into circulation.
The Washington Post reported that the Treasury Department placed a final order for Blanks this month, hoping it will expire in early 2026. After this, you can continue to spend money. But at some point, businesses will have to start rounding up to the nearest 5 cents for cash transactions.
Why get an axe for a penny? Well, according to the U.S. Mint’s 2024 annual report, the production and distribution cost nearly 4 cents. Part of this is due to rising material costs. Pennies are made mainly from zinc and have more than doubled their price per metric ton since 2000.
Over the years, a penny of production has been declining. In 2024, the Mint made only 3.2 billion pence, compared with about $11 billion a year in the 1990s. But the Mint still lost $85.3 million in the last fiscal year. According to the position, the agency estimates it will save $56 million per year from reduced material costs.
“Given the cost savings from taxpayers, this is just another example of our administration cutting waste for U.S. taxpayers and making the government more efficient for the American people,” a Treasury spokesman told Axios in a statement.
The talk about abandoning a penny has been around for some time. For example, former Finance Minister Jacob Lew suggested stopping production in 2016. Americans are also more beneficial to this idea, probably because a penny is used less in our daily lives. According to Yougov, about one-third of Americans never spend money, and adults under 30 use the least.
Back in January, Dorge aimed at a cent, and a month later, Trump followed up on the truth about “waste” pennies, writing: “I instruct my U.S. Treasury Secretary to stop producing new pennies. Let’s tear off waste from our big power budget, even for a cent.”
To be fair, a penny-producing cost increase has hit all coins. For example, the cost in 2024 is 25% higher than the previous year (compared to a 17% increase in a cent). Moreover, like a penny, nickel production and distribution are more expensive than actual value.
It is not unheard of to abandon a cent fragment. New Zealand and Australia stopped their sales in 1989 and 1992 respectively, and Canada stopped producing pennies in 2012.
