You’ve probably heard the rumor by now. People have been whispering about it for years at the back of grocery store lines or while digging through couch cushions. But honestly, the reality is even weirder than the rumors. As of late 2025, the U.S. Mint has officially pulled the plug on making pennies for general circulation. It’s over.
Why? Because the cost to mint a us penny reached a point that was basically fiscal insanity.
In the 2024 fiscal year, it cost the government 3.69 cents to manufacture a single one-cent piece. Think about that for a second. Every time the Mint pressed a new copper-plated zinc disk, they instantly lost nearly three times its value. It’s like buying a gallon of milk for $10 and selling it to your neighbor for $3. You can only do that so many times before someone notices the math doesn’t work.
The Brutal Math of the 3.69-Cent Penny
For nearly two decades, the penny was a money-loser. The U.S. Mint’s 2024 Annual Report laid out the damage in black and white. To produce 3.2 billion pennies that year, the Treasury spent about $117 million. The face value of those coins? A measly $31.7 million.
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That gap is what economists call "negative seigniorage."
Basically, it’s a fancy word for a hole in the pocket of the American taxpayer. In 2024 alone, that hole was $85.3 million deep. If you look back over the last ten years, the price has just kept climbing. Back in 2014, it cost about 1.7 cents to make a penny. High? Sure. But compared to today’s 3.7 cents, it looks like a bargain.
What changed? Metals got expensive. Zinc, which makes up 97.5% of a penny, isn't exactly a precious metal, but it’s not free either. When you add in the 2.5% copper coating, the labor at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints, the electricity to run those massive presses, and the security to ship tons of metal across the country, the "cheap" penny becomes a luxury.
Why Not Just Change the Recipe?
A lot of people asked why we didn't just make them out of plastic or aluminum. Believe me, the Mint tried. They spent years researching alternative metals. They looked at steel, various alloys, and even considered changing the shape.
But there’s a catch.
Every time you change the metal content of a coin, you risk breaking every vending machine, coin sorter, and arcade game in the country. These machines often rely on the weight and electromagnetic signature of the coin. If the Mint switched to a cheaper steel penny, millions of machines would have needed hardware updates. The cost of that "fix" would have been passed down to businesses and, eventually, you.
The Trump Order and the End of an Era
The final nail in the coffin came in early 2025. President Donald Trump, looking for ways to trim government waste, ordered the Treasury to stop production of pennies for general circulation. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent followed through, and on November 12, 2025, the final circulating penny was struck in Philadelphia.
It was a quiet end for a coin that’s been around since 1793.
Now, don’t go panic-buying rolls of pennies just yet. They are still legal tender. If you have a jar of them under your bed, they’re still worth a cent each. They just won't be making new ones to replace the ones people lose in their car seats. The Federal Reserve has already started scaling back, stopping the handling of pennies at more than half of its terminals.
What Happens at the Cash Register?
This is where things get interesting for your wallet. Since the cost to mint a us penny made it a "dead coin walking," businesses are moving toward rounding.
If you’re paying with a credit card or your phone, nothing changes. The total is $10.99? You pay $10.99. But if you’re using cold, hard cash, get ready for the 5-cent rule. Most retailers are adopting a symmetrical rounding system:
- Totals ending in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents get rounded down to the nearest nickel.
- Totals ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents get rounded up.
Economists at the Richmond Fed did the math on this. They estimate this "rounding tax" will cost American consumers about $6 million a year. It sounds like a lot, but compared to the $85 million the government was losing every year just to make the coins, it’s a trade-off the Treasury was willing to make.
Is the Nickel Next?
If the penny was a disaster, the nickel is a train wreck.
Honestly, the cost to mint a us penny is actually "cheap" compared to the five-cent piece. In 2024, it cost a staggering 13.78 cents to make a nickel. That is nearly three times its face value. The Mint lost about $1.75 for every dollar’s worth of nickels they put into the world.
The only reason the nickel survived the 2025 cuts is because of its utility. Vending machines, parking meters, and laundromats still lean heavily on the nickel. Phasing it out at the same time as the penny would have caused too much chaos. But experts like Roberto Duncan, an economist at Ohio University, suggest the nickel’s days are numbered. If metal prices stay high, we might be looking at a future where the dime is our smallest physical currency.
Real-World Impact: Charities and the Unbanked
It’s not all just spreadsheets and metal prices. There are real people who rely on the penny. Small charities often use "penny jars" to collect thousands of dollars in spare change. When the coins stop flowing, those donations might dry up.
Then there’s the "unbanked" population.
Roughly 4.5% of U.S. households don't have a bank account. They live in a cash-only world. For someone living paycheck to paycheck, those few cents rounded up at the grocery store every day actually add up. It’s a regressive impact—meaning it hits the people with the least amount of money the hardest.
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The Environmental Footprint
There is a silver lining, though. Making pennies was a dirty business.
- Mining: Digging up zinc and copper is energy-intensive and creates significant runoff.
- Transporting: Shipping billions of heavy coins from Mints to Federal Reserve banks burned millions of gallons of fuel.
- Waste: Most pennies were used once and then literally thrown away or forgotten.
By stopping production, the U.S. is following in the footsteps of Canada, Australia, and the UK (who got rid of their half-penny long ago). It’s a move toward a more efficient, digital-first economy.
Actionable Steps for the Post-Penny World
The penny is gone from the production line, but it's still in your pocket for now. Here is how to handle the transition:
- Cash in the Jar: If you’ve got a massive stash of pennies, now is the time to take them to a Coinstar or your local credit union. As banks stop handling them, it might actually get harder to get rid of bulk amounts of copper in a few years.
- Watch the Rounding: Start paying attention to your cash totals. If your total is $10.02, pay cash and get that 2-cent "discount." If it’s $10.04, use your card to avoid the round-up.
- Don't Melt Them: It is still illegal to melt down U.S. coins for their raw metal value. Even though the zinc and copper in a penny are worth more than a cent, trying to profit from the scrap metal can land you in federal prison.
- Check for Rarities: Before you dump the jar, look for "Wheaties" (pennies made before 1959) or error coins. Since no more are being made, the collector value of unique pennies is likely to see a bump.
The cost to mint a us penny finally became too heavy for the economy to carry. We’re witnessing the end of a 230-year tradition, driven by the simple reality that you can't keep making something that costs three times what it's worth. It’s a bit sentimental, sure, but it’s mostly just common sense.