Fri May 23 12:28:23 UTC 2025: **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
**U.S. Mint Ceases Penny Production, Citing Cost Concerns**
**WASHINGTON – May 23, 2025 -** The United States Mint has officially made its final order of penny blanks and will cease production of the one-cent coin after those are used, according to a Treasury Department official. This decision, spurred by rising production costs, is expected to save the government an estimated $56 million annually.
The move was initially prompted by a directive from former President Donald Trump, who publicly stated the penny’s production cost exceeded its face value. “For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote at that time in a post on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.” The cost to mint a penny had risen to nearly 4 cents by 2024.
While approximately 114 billion pennies remain in circulation, their perceived utility has declined. The penny was one of the first coins minted by the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792.
The decision has sparked debate, with proponents highlighting the economic benefits of eliminating the costly coin. “Advocates for ditching the penny cite its high production cost — almost 4 cents per penny now, according to the US Mint — and limited utility.” However, critics, like Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents, have expressed concerns about the potential increase in demand for nickels, which are even more expensive to produce (currently costing nearly 14 cents each).
The future of the penny now rests with Congress, which has the authority to permanently end its production through legislation. Several bipartisan bills aimed at eliminating the penny have already been introduced this year, including the “Make Sense Not Cents Act” and the “Common Cents Act.”
Jay Zagorsky, professor of markets, public policy, and law at Boston University, emphasizes the need for Congress to include rounding-up provisions in any legislation to avoid increasing demand for nickels.
“It’s incumbent on Treasury to come up with a cheaper way to make the nickel,” Weller said. “Let’s make sure we’re making our coins as least expensively as possible and maintaining the option to use cash in transactions.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. The U.S. Mint reported making 3.2 billion pennies last year, more than half of all new coins it made last year.
First Piper 