It’s a sad day for piggy banks everywhere. And 99-cent stores. And parents trying to teach their children the most basic idiom about frugality.
On Wednesday, the US Mint produced the final penny, ending the coin’s 232-year-old life. Treasurer of the United States Brandon Beach struck the last one-cent coin in Philadelphia, the US Mint said. Though production has ended, the US Mint said there are still around 300 billion pennies in circulation.
Wednesday’s event, Beach said in a post on X, symbolized “the return of common sense.”
President Donald Trump named Beach, a former Republican state senator from Georgia, as the head of the Treasury in March, saying in a Truth Social post that he will “help unleash America’s Golden Age.” In his role, Beach is responsible for currency production and gives his two cents on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. He wore a blazer plastered with hundred-dollar bills in the state senate shortly after Trump’s announcement.
Born in Philadelphia in 1793, the penny had, for some, become a copper-coated emblem of government waste. The White House DOGE Office targeted the coin earlier this year, and politicians of both major parties have questioned its value. Trump criticized the penny in a Truth Social post in February.
The US Mint estimated that ending penny production will save $56 million in material costs every year, a spokesperson previously told Business Insider. Each $0.01 coin most recently cost almost $0.04 to produce, according to the US Mint.
Other countries, including Canada and Sweden, have stopped making pennies, but efforts to phase out the coin have repeatedly stalled in Congress. Its advocates include Mark Weller, who runs a pro-penny group and has worked for a company that won a contract with the US Mint to produce modern penny blanks. Weller previously told Business Insider that he thinks the nickel is a bigger problem than the penny.
Some retailers are frustrated about the penny shortage and have been left scrambling. Dylan Jeon, a senior director of government relations at the National Retail Federation, said in a statement on October 29 that the government should offer retailers guidance on coping with the growing penny shortage.
“Without preemptive federal guidance, retailers and other cash-accepting businesses are exposed to legal risks simply for implementing necessary practices in response to the nationwide penny shortage,” he said.
Fast-food chains, including McDonald’s and Wendy’s, have recently made small pricing adjustments as the penny has started to fade from circulation. The fast casual chains are rounding customers’ bills up or down if they don’t have exact change.
A McDonald’s representative previously told Business Insider in a statement that certain locations are facing a penny shortage. Wendy’s and Go To Foods, the parent company of Auntie Anne’s, Cinnabon, and Jamba, both said that franchises should round cash transactions to the closest nickel.
