You've probably got a jar of them. Or maybe they’re just rolling around in your cup holder, sticky with spilled soda and collecting dust. We’re talking about the one-cent piece. For decades, people have been asking when will the penny stop being made, and honestly, the answer is way more complicated than just "it costs too much."
Money is weird.
Currently, it costs the United States Mint about 3.07 cents to produce a single penny. Think about that for a second. The government is essentially losing two cents on every single coin they press. If any private business ran their operations like that, they’d be bankrupt in a week. But the U.S. government isn't a business, and the penny has some very powerful, very stubborn friends in Washington.
Despite the math, the copper-plated zinc discs keep rolling off the presses at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints by the billions.
The Ridiculous Economics of the One-Cent Piece
It’s expensive.
According to the 2023 Annual Report from the U.S. Mint, the cost of making a penny has stayed well above its face value for eighteen consecutive years. We aren't just talking about a little bit of "red ink" here. In the fiscal year 2023 alone, the Mint lost over $90 million just making pennies. Since 2006, the total loss to taxpayers has climbed into the hundreds of millions.
Why? Commodities.
The penny is 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper. When the price of zinc spikes on the global market, the "seigniorage"—that’s the fancy term for the profit or loss a government makes from minting currency—takes a massive hit. It’s a literal drain on the Treasury.
You’d think the decision-makers would just pull the plug, right? Canada did it back in 2012. Australia and New Zealand got rid of their one-cent and two-cent coins decades ago. Even the U.S. eliminated the half-penny in 1857 because it had lost too much purchasing power. Back then, the half-penny was worth about what a dime is worth today. By that logic, we should have ditched the penny, the nickel, and probably the quarter a long time ago.
But logic doesn't always win in D.C.
The Political Tug-of-War
If you want to know when will the penny stop being made, you have to look at a group called "Americans for Common Cents." They’re a lobby group. And yeah, before you ask, they are largely funded by Jarden Zinc Products, the company that sells the zinc blanks to the Mint.
They have some pretty convincing—or at least loud—arguments. They claim that if we get rid of the penny, prices will go up because of "rounding." If your coffee costs $3.02, a shop might round it up to $3.05. Over time, they argue, this acts as a "regressive tax" on the poor.
Except, most economists think that's total nonsense.
Studies by Robert Whaples, an economics professor at Wake Forest University, suggest that rounding actually evens out in the long run. Sometimes you lose two cents, sometimes you gain two cents. It’s a wash. Plus, more and more people are paying with cards or phones anyway. Digital transactions don't need rounding; they go down to the exact cent.
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Then there's the sentimental factor. People love Abraham Lincoln. He’s been on the coin since 1909, marking the centennial of his birth. Removing the penny feels, to some, like demoting an American icon. It’s emotional. It’s nostalgic. And politicians hate voting for things that make people feel bad, even if it saves $90 million a year.
Charities and the "Penny Jar" Effect
There’s a weirdly specific reason charities love the penny.
Think about organizations like the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s "Pennies for Patients" program. They’ve raised millions of dollars specifically because pennies are so "worthless" that people are happy to give them away. If the penny disappears, do those small-change donations disappear too?
Charity advocates worry that people won't be as quick to drop a nickel or a dime into a plastic bin at a gas station. The "friction" of giving feels higher when the coin has more perceived value. It’s a psychological barrier. Whether that's enough of a reason to keep a money-losing coin in production is a debate that keeps the House Committee on Financial Services busy every few years.
The Nickel Problem
Here is the secret reason the penny is still here: The Nickel.
If we kill the penny, the nickel becomes the smallest unit of physical currency. But here's the kicker—the nickel is even more expensive to make relative to its value. It costs about 11.5 cents to make a five-cent piece.
If the penny goes away, the demand for nickels would likely skyrocket. We’d be replacing a coin that loses two cents with a coin that loses six cents. To truly fix the system, the Treasury would probably have to ditch both, or change the metal composition of both, which brings us back to lobbying and mining interests.
The U.S. Mint has actually been researching cheaper metals for years. They’ve looked at steel. They’ve looked at aluminum. The problem is that vending machines and laundromats rely on the specific weight and "electromagnetic signature" of coins. Changing the metal means every vending machine in America might need a hardware update. That's a massive hidden cost for small business owners.
What Happens if the Penny Actually Dies?
So, let's play out the scenario. Say Congress finally grows a backbone and stops production. What does the day after look like?
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- The Rounding Rule: Cash transactions would be rounded to the nearest five-cent increment. $1.01 and $1.02 round down to $1.00. $1.03 and $1.04 round up to $1.05.
- The "Hoarding" Phase: People would probably panic-stash their pennies, thinking they’ll be worth something. (Spoiler: They won't be, unless they're rare mint marks or pre-1982 95% copper versions).
- The Slow Fade: Pennies would remain legal tender indefinitely. You could still take them to the bank. The Mint just wouldn't put new ones into circulation. Eventually, they’d just... vanish.
Canada is the best roadmap here. They stopped distributing pennies in 2013. The transition was remarkably boring. People complained for a week, and then everyone forgot about it. Life went on. The "rounding tax" never materialized as a major economic burden.
The 2026 Perspective: Where Are We Now?
As of right now, there is no official date for when will the penny stop being made.
Every few years, a bill is introduced in Congress—like the "Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings (COINS) Act"—but these bills usually die in committee. The most recent pushes have focused more on giving the Treasury the authority to change the metal content rather than killing the coin entirely.
However, the "coin shortage" during the COVID-19 pandemic changed the conversation. It proved that the U.S. doesn't actually have a shortage of coins; it has a "circulation" problem. People have billions of dollars in change sitting in jars at home. If we just used what we already have, the Mint wouldn't need to make a single new penny for years.
The rise of "contactless" payments is the real penny-killer.
When was the last time you actually wanted a penny back in change? Most people just leave them in those "Take a Penny, Leave a Penny" trays. We are effectively living in a post-penny world already; the government just hasn't admitted it yet.
What You Should Do With Your Pennies
If you’re sitting on a mountain of copper and zinc, don’t wait for a federal mandate to deal with it.
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- Check the dates. Any penny made before 1982 is 95% copper. These are actually worth about 2.5 cents in raw metal value. It’s currently illegal to melt them down, but they’re "real" money in a way modern zinc pennies aren't.
- Use the kiosks. Coinstar machines are everywhere. If you take the "gift card" option instead of cash, they usually waive the 11-12% fee.
- Dump them at the bank. Most banks will give you paper rolls for free. It’s a mindless task to do while watching TV, and you might find you’re sitting on fifty or sixty bucks you forgot about.
- Donate. If you truly don't care about the money, find a local school or charity drive. They’ll take the weight off your hands and put it toward something useful.
The bottom line? The penny persists because of a weird mix of zinc lobbyists, sentimental politicians, and a general fear of change. It won't last forever, but for now, that jar on your dresser isn't going anywhere.
The end of the penny will likely come not with a bang, but with a quiet memo from the Treasury when the cost of zinc finally makes the loss too embarrassing to ignore. Until then, keep an eye on the metal markets. That's where the real decision is being made.
Your Change Action Plan
Don't let your money rot. Start by sorting your change today. Separate anything from before 1982—those are your "inflation hedges." Take the rest to a credit union (they often have free coin counters for members) and turn that dead weight into actual, spendable balance. If you're a business owner, start experimenting with "rounding down" for cash customers as a loyalty perk; it costs you less than a penny's worth of marketing and builds massive goodwill. Be ready for the shift before the government forces it on you.