Honestly, you've probably got a jar of them sitting on a dresser right now. Or maybe they’re just rolling around under your car seat, sticky with spilled soda and completely forgotten. We treat pennies like garbage, yet we keep minting them by the billions. It’s weird. Why is the penny going away such a persistent rumor that never quite turns into a reality? People have been predicting the death of the cent for decades, citing everything from the price of zinc to the sheer annoyance of fumbling with change at a drive-thru. But if you look at the U.S. Mint's production schedules, the little copper-plated zinc discs aren't dead yet. Not even close.
It costs more than a penny to make a penny. That’s the big sticking point. In 2023, the U.S. Mint reported that the unit cost for a one-cent coin was about 3.07 cents. We are literally burning money to create money that nobody wants to use.
The Economic Absurdity of Keeping the Cent
Think about that for a second. We are spending over three cents to manufacture something worth one cent. If a private business ran its operations like that, it would go bankrupt in a week. But the government doesn't work like a business. The debate over the penny going away isn't just about the "seigniorage"—which is the fancy term for the profit or loss a government makes by issuing currency. It’s also about logistics.
Robert Whaples, an economics professor at Wake Forest University, has been a vocal advocate for killing the penny for years. He argues that the time wasted by citizens and cashiers handling these coins adds up to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity. It's not just the three cents to make it; it's the ten seconds you spend digging through your pocket while the person behind you in line sighs loudly. Those seconds matter when you multiply them by billions of transactions.
Canada did it. They ditched their penny in 2013. Australia and New Zealand did it way back in the 90s. When Canada stopped distributing the coin, the world didn't end. Businesses just started rounding cash transactions to the nearest five cents. If your total was $1.02, you paid a dollar. If it was $1.03, you paid $1.05. It’s remarkably simple, yet the U.S. remains terrified of the transition.
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Why the Penny Going Away Hasn't Happened Yet
So, if it’s such a bad deal for the Treasury, why is the penny going away still just a headline and not a law? You can thank the zinc lobby for a big part of that. Most people think pennies are copper. They aren’t. Since 1982, they’ve been 97.5% zinc with a thin copper coating. Companies like Jarden Zinc Products (now part of the Greer Group) have a massive vested interest in keeping the penny alive because they provide the blanks to the Mint. They spend a decent chunk of change on lobbying to ensure the penny stays in your pocket.
Then there’s the "rounding tax" fear.
Groups like Americans for Common Cents argue that if we get rid of the penny, charities will lose out on millions in "spare change" donations. They also claim that retailers will always round up, essentially creating a hidden tax on the poor who rely most on cash. But the Canadian experience showed that rounding actually balances out over time. Sometimes you lose two cents, sometimes you gain two cents. It's a wash.
There’s also a deep-seated psychological attachment to the coin. It features Abraham Lincoln. It represents the smallest unit of our fiscal identity. For many, losing the penny feels like a sign of rampant inflation or a surrender of national heritage. It's emotional, not logical.
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The Military Already Did It
Did you know the U.S. military already phased out the penny at overseas bases? It’s true. At AAFES (Army & Air Force Exchange Service) locations in places like Europe and South Korea, they don't use pennies. They use a rounding system. If the Department of Defense can manage it for soldiers in combat zones and overseas deployments, the argument that it's "too complicated" for a grocery store in Ohio starts to fall apart pretty fast.
What Happens if the Penny Actually Vanishes?
If the penny going away finally becomes official policy, the process would likely follow the Canadian model. The Mint would stop shipping new coins to banks. Existing pennies would remain legal tender, meaning you could still spend them if you had them, but they’d slowly be collected by banks and melted down.
- Cash transactions would be rounded.
- Digital transactions (credit cards, Apple Pay, Venmo) would remain exactly the same, down to the cent.
- Vending machines, which already mostly reject pennies, wouldn't change at all.
This shift would actually save the U.S. government around $100 million a year. That’s not "balance the budget" money, but it’s not nothing. It's a hundred million dollars we are currently throwing into a hole because of tradition and lobbying.
The Inflation Myth
One of the loudest arguments against the penny going away is that it will drive up the price of everything. If a gallon of milk is $3.99, won't the store just make it $4.00? Probably. But they might also make it $3.95 to stay competitive. In a world where 80% of transactions are now digital, the "rounding tax" is increasingly irrelevant. Most of us aren't even using cash for the milk anyway.
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The 2026 Outlook: Is the End Near?
As we move deeper into 2026, the pressure is mounting. The cost of metals continues to fluctuate, and the Mint’s losses on the penny are becoming harder to justify in an era of fiscal scrutiny. We are seeing more "cashless" businesses in major cities like New York and San Francisco, despite legal pushes to require the acceptance of cash for equity reasons.
The penny is basically a zombie currency. It's dead, but it’s still walking among us. It has lost over 90% of its purchasing power since it was first introduced. Today, a penny buys literally nothing. Even a "penny candy" costs a dime or a quarter now.
Actionable Steps for Your Spare Change
If you’re tired of the clutter and want to prepare for the inevitable day the penny going away becomes a reality, here is how to handle your hoard:
- Don't roll them yourself. Most banks don't even want hand-rolled coins anymore because of the risk of slugs or short-changing. Use a Coinstar, but choose the "gift card" option to avoid the 11-12% fee.
- Check for "Key Dates." Before you dump that jar, look for 1943 steel pennies (they stick to magnets) or the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent. Most pennies are worth exactly one cent, but a few are worth thousands.
- Donate to "Penny Drives." Schools and charities often run these because it’s an easy way for people to clear out clutter for a good cause.
- Use the self-checkout. If you have a handful of pennies, the self-checkout machine at the grocery store is the only "person" who won't get annoyed if you feed them in one by one to pay for your bread.
The reality is that the penny's days are numbered. Whether it’s this year or five years from now, the economic gravity of a three-cent manufacturing cost for a one-cent product will eventually win out over sentimentality and lobbyist pressure. It's time to stop worrying about the one-cent coin and start wondering why we still have the nickel, which—spoiler alert—also costs more than five cents to make.