The United States is about to earn its last dime. After more than 230 years of manufacturing, the Philadelphia Mint will strike its final batch of one-cent coins on Thursday. Although the coins will still be in use, businesses have already begun to change their prices due to the phase-out, claiming that pennies are getting harder to come by. “Rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time” is how President Donald Trump put it when he initially announced the intentions in February. The administration claims that the action will save money.
According to the Treasury Department, the cost of making pennies, which are made of copper-plated zinc and honor Civil War President Abraham Lincoln, is now almost four cents per coin, more than twice as much as it was ten years ago. The move to stop production is expected to save roughly $56 million annually. Officials have said that the penny, which was first produced in 1793, is becoming less relevant due to the growth of computerized transactions.
Approximately 300 billion of the coins will still be in use, “far exceeding the amount needed for commerce,” according to Treasury Department projections. A lot of pennies eventually become useless. According to a government report from 2022, over 60% of all coins in circulation in the US, or roughly $60–$90 for the average household, are kept in piggy banks at home and are not seen to be worth trade.
Penny-pinchers beware, though, as companies begin to round up pricing, which is anticipated to increase consumer expenses. According to one Richmond Federal Reserve analysis, that might cost consumers $6 million a year.
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