Honestly, the penny has been on thin ice for years. It’s the coin we all find at the bottom of our cup holders or accidentally vacuum up without a second thought. But things just got real.
President Donald Trump basically decided he’s done with the copper-plated nuisance. During the 2025 Super Bowl, while most people were arguing over a holding call, he took to Truth Social to drop a financial bombshell: he’s ordered the U.S. Treasury to stop minting new pennies.
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"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!" he posted. And he’s not kidding about the waste. By late 2025, the U.S. Mint officially stopped buying the zinc "blanks" used to stamp out the coins. As of 2026, the era of shiny new Lincolns is effectively over.
Why the penny is a math nightmare
The economics of the penny are, frankly, kind of embarrassing. Imagine you’re running a business where every time you sell a product for $1, it costs you $3 to make it. You’d be bankrupt in a week. That is exactly what the U.S. Mint has been doing with the penny for nearly two decades.
In the 2024 fiscal year, it cost about 3.7 cents to produce a single one-cent coin. When you multiply that by the 3 billion-plus pennies the Mint churns out every year, you’re looking at a massive hole in the bucket. The government lost about $85 million just making pennies last year.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has been working with the administration to figure out where that money goes. It’s not just the metal. You’ve got to factor in:
- The Zinc Problem: Pennies are actually 97.5% zinc. The price of raw zinc has been climbing, making the "face value" of the coin a joke.
- Shipping Weight: Copper and zinc are heavy. Moving billions of these things in armored trucks costs a fortune in fuel and security.
- The Labor Gap: Retailers spend an estimated millions of hours every year just counting, rolling, and transporting pennies.
The "Nickel Catch" and why critics are worried
It sounds like a slam dunk, right? Stop making the coin, save the money. But it’s not quite that simple. This is where the debate gets spicy.
If we stop using pennies, people will naturally use more nickels. Here’s the kicker: the nickel is even more of a loser for the Treasury. It costs roughly 14 cents to make a five-cent piece.
If the public just swaps pennies for nickels, the "savings" from stopping the penny might get eaten alive by the increased production of nickels. Critics like the group Americans for Common Cents argue that the overhead costs of the Mint won't just vanish—they'll just be shifted onto the other coins, making the dime and quarter more expensive to produce, too.
What happens at the cash register?
You’ve probably seen this in other countries like Canada or Australia. It’s called rounding.
Basically, if you’re paying with a credit card, debit card, or Apple Pay, nothing changes. You’ll still be charged $9.99. But if you pull out a ten-dollar bill for that same item, the store is going to round the total.
Most proposals, like the Common Cents Act introduced in the 119th Congress, suggest 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.
It’s a "wash" over time for most people. You lose two cents on your morning coffee but save two cents on your lunch.
The end of an era
The penny has been around since 1793. Lincoln’s face has been on it since 1909. It’s a piece of Americana. For many, it’s sentimental. We grew up putting them in piggy banks or tossing them into fountains for luck.
But sentiment doesn’t pay the bills. With only about 16% of transactions involving cash these days, the "nuisance factor" has finally outweighed the nostalgia.
There are still roughly 114 billion pennies out there in the world. They aren't going to vanish overnight. They are still legal tender. You can still use them to pay for things—if the cashier is patient enough to count them—but once they hit the bank, they likely won't be coming back out.
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What you should do now
Don't panic and start hoarding copper. Most "modern" pennies are mostly zinc and aren't worth more than a cent to a scrap yard anyway.
- Clean out the jars: If you have a mountain of pennies, take them to a Coinstar or your local bank now while the machines and rolling systems are still common.
- Watch the transition: Keep an eye on local retailers. Many will start posting "Rounding Policy" signs near the registers as the supply of pennies in the Federal Reserve system starts to dry up throughout 2026.
- Check your change: Keep an eye out for "Wheaties" or pre-1982 pennies. Pre-1982 pennies are 95% copper and actually have a melt value higher than a cent, though melting them is technically illegal. Still, collectors will always want the old stuff.
The penny isn't dead yet, but the life support has been unplugged. It’s time to get used to a world where everything ends in a 0 or a 5.