After more than two centuries in American pockets, the penny’s production has come to an end. The United States Mint officially concluded manufacturing of the one-cent coin for general circulation on November 12, marking the close of a 232-year chapter in American currency history.
The decision follows President Donald Trump’s February 2025 directive to the Treasury Department, in which he called for an immediate halt to penny production, citing the coin’s mounting production costs as “wasteful” government spending.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a social media post announcing the directive. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”
The economics behind the decision are stark. Each penny now costs nearly four cents–$0.0369, to be precise–to manufacture and distribute, or roughly quadruple its face value. This unit cost has surged 20.2% from the previous year, when production expenses stood at just over three cents per coin.
During fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Mint shipped more than 3.17 billion pennies into circulation. While this figure represents a decrease from the nearly 4.14 billion produced the year before, the financial burden remains substantial. Rising costs for raw metals, increasingly complex designs, and higher labor expenses have all contributed to the penny’s growing price tag.
The penny isn’t alone in this predicament. The nickel also costs more to produce than its face value, sparking similar debates about its future viability.
The penny’s journey began shortly after the nation’s founding. In 1793, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia produced the first one-cent coins in accordance with the Coinage Act of 1792.
That inaugural design, known as the “Flowing Hair” Cent, was among the first coins ever produced by the newly established U.S. Mint.
Over the subsequent 232 years, the penny became America’s longest-running coin in circulation, witnessing the nation’s transformation from a fledgling republic to a global superpower. The coin underwent numerous design changes throughout its history, with Abraham Lincoln’s profile gracing its obverse side since 1909.
Despite the halt in production, the coins remain legal tender and will continue circulating for the foreseeable future. Officially eliminating the penny from U.S. currency would require an act of Congress–a step that has not yet been taken.
The Mint announced on November 12 that it had placed its final order of penny blanks and would discontinue production once those materials are exhausted. Billions of pennies already in circulation will continue to change hands, though their numbers will gradually dwindle through loss and wear.
The move aligns with trends in other developed nations. Canada eliminated its penny in 2013, and several European countries have discontinued their smallest-denomination coins. Proponents of the change argue that pennies have limited practical use in modern commerce, while critics worry about potential price rounding effects on consumers. As the final pennies roll off the production line, they mark the end of an era that spanned from George Washington’s presidency to the present day–a small coin with an outsized place in American history.