The U.S. Treasury Department has ordered its final batch of pennies, with the intention of ceasing penny production altogether after this last delivery has been made.
For quite some time, the potential disappearance of the penny has been debated among political groups. However, it was President Donald Trump who recently rekindled this topic in discussion during February 2025.
He proposed cutting back unnecessary spending from our country’s budget, no matter how small the amount, as he stated in a post on Truth Social. “Such waste must be eliminated,” he added, further directing his Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to discontinue minting new pennies.
In approximately three months from now, in May 2025, the long-awaited event is taking place; the Department of the Treasury has formally made its final purchase of the penny, a decision that has garnered approval from members of both political parties, Democrats and Republicans alike.
What happens now that the US has stopped making pennies?
In simpler terms, if this proposed change goes through (which isn’t certain at the moment), it could mean that stores might need to adjust their prices to the nearest 5-cent increment, according to reports from NPR. This potential shift could impact the wallets of American consumers.
Although you won’t be able to produce new pennies from now on, they will still hold their status as legal tender. This means you can keep using them in transactions.
Similar to Canada and New Zealand, other nations have also discontinued the production of one-cent coins. For instance, Canada ceased minting its pennies in 2012, while New Zealand stopped in 1990. The Royal Canadian Mint gathered all the pennies that were in circulation, melted them down to reuse their valuable materials. However, citizens could still use these coins as legal tender if they had kept some for themselves.
By 2024, the U.S. Mint disclosed a loss of approximately $85 million from producing new pennies. Moreover, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 2023, only about 20% of transactions involve cash.
Over the past ten years, I’ve noticed that the cost of minting pennies in my beloved United States has significantly risen from 1.3 cents to 3.69 cents per coin. According to predictions, this phase-out could potentially save our country a substantial $56 million every year! What an incredible savings we might achieve if we manage to implement this change!
Apart from pennies, nickels are another U.S. coin that end up costing more in production costs than their intrinsic value. In fact, it requires around 14 cents in total to manufacture each nickel.
On the other hand, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent believes that costs could be reduced by altering the nickel’s makeup. He also mentioned that the dime is quite lucrative.
Read More
- 50 Goal Sound ID Codes for Blue Lock Rivals
- MrBeast Becomes the Youngest Self-Made Billionaire in History
- How to use a Modifier in Wuthering Waves
- Basketball Zero Boombox & Music ID Codes – Roblox
- Lucky Offense Tier List & Reroll Guide
- 50 Ankle Break & Score Sound ID Codes for Basketball Zero
- Ultimate Myth Idle RPG Tier List & Reroll Guide
- EA FC 25 LaLiga TOTS: Release Date LEAKED! + Predictions!
- ATHENA: Blood Twins Hero Tier List (May 2025)
- Honkai: Star Rail – Embracing the Legend of Fat Fuck in All Its Glory!
2025-05-22 22:18