The federal government made its final order of penny blanks this month − the first step to end the production of the 1-cent coin, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department confirmed to USA TODAY.
“The United States Mint will continue to manufacture pennies while an inventory of penny blanks exists,” the spokesperson said. The agency did not specify how long the inventory was expected to last, so it’s unclear exactly when pennies will no longer be in circulation.
Blanks are flat metal discs that eventually become coins, according to the U.S. Mint.
President Donald Trump has pushed to end the circulation of pennies since the start of his second term, citing the cost to produce them.
The U.S. Mint has produced the penny for 233 years − it was one of the first coins made after the agency was established in 1792, according to its website.
The government produced about 3.2 billion pennies in 2024, according to U.S. Mint’s annual report. The year before that, the Treasury Department circulated 4.1 billion pennies.
Generally, consumers are using less cash − including pennies. According to data from the Federal Reserve, Americans made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023.
Do Americans use coins? Coins are literal cash. Why do Americans treat them like trash?
Trump pushed to end penny production
In February, Trump instructed the Treasury Department to stop minting the low-value coins.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
Elon Musk, who has started to scale back his work as head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, said in January that penny production in fiscal year 2023 cost taxpayers more than $179 million.
How much does it cost to produce pennies?
In fiscal year 2024, it took 3.7 cents to produce and distribute one penny, according to the 2024 U.S. Mint report.
The 2024 cost was up by 20% from the previous year, according to the report.
Coin production data Bring more nickels: What comes next as US officially ends penny production
The report said the increase was partly driven by the rising costs of metals like zinc and copper.
Similarly, the nickel costs 13.8 cents to produce, according to the U.S. Mint.
Contributing: Minnah Arshad and Fernando Cervantes Jr.
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: U.S. Treasury winds down penny production. What we know
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