The U.S. Treasury will end penny production in 2026, citing rising costs and declining utility, sparking a national reckoning over the future of cash.
At a Glance
- U.S. penny production will stop by early 2026 after more than 230 years
- Each penny costs 2.3 to 3.7 cents to make, creating an $85 million annual loss
- Existing coins will remain legal tender, but new ones won’t be minted
- Pennies are rarely used and largely hoarded, not circulated
- Environmental, operational, and economic benefits drive the decision
A Coin No Longer Worth Its Cost
After centuries of use, the penny is being formally phased out. The U.S. Treasury confirmed its final order for penny blanks and announced that production will stop once existing inventories are depleted. This decision comes after years of debate over the coin’s relevance in an increasingly cashless society—and amid undeniable economic realities.
According to the U.S. Mint, producing a single penny now costs between 2.3 and 3.7 cents. In 2024 alone, minting 3.2 billion pennies resulted in an $85.3 million loss. Former President Donald Trump, long a critic of penny production, recently called it “so wasteful” and urged lawmakers to “rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”
Watch a report: Penny’s End Marks Shift in U.S. Currency.
Hoarded, Not Spent
Economically inefficient, the penny is also functionally obsolete. While nearly 240 billion pennies are estimated to exist, only about 114 billion are in circulation—and most are hoarded in jars and drawers rather than used in daily commerce. As a result, the U.S. Mint has had to continuously produce more to meet artificial demand, compounding costs and logistical burdens.
Ending penny production won’t mean the coins vanish overnight. They’ll remain legal tender, but businesses will begin rounding cash transactions to the nearest five cents—a practice already standard in countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, all of which have eliminated low-denomination coins without significant disruption.
Benefits Beyond the Budget
Environmental and operational gains further support the move. The penny’s primary material, zinc, is environmentally costly to mine and process. Eliminating production reduces emissions and resource use. Retailers, meanwhile, stand to benefit from streamlined checkout processes, as eliminating small coin handling saves time and operational effort.
Still, opposition exists. Groups like Americans for Common Cents argue the move could spark inflation or shift costs to consumers. Others worry about increased nickel usage—each of which currently costs nearly 14 cents to produce. “Let’s make sure we’re making our coins as least expensively as possible,” said Mark Weller of the pro-penny coalition.
Next Steps: Legal, Cultural, and Digital
While the Treasury is driving the operational change, Congressional approval may still be required to permanently remove the penny from circulation. Two bipartisan bills—the Make Sense Not Cents Act and the Common Cents Act—aim to formalize the move, but prior efforts have stalled.
More broadly, the penny’s phaseout raises larger questions about the future of physical currency. As mobile payments grow and countries like the UK pause coin minting due to cash decline, the U.S. faces its own crossroads: innovate its monetary system or risk economic inefficiency. The death of the penny may be the first step in a wider digital transformation.
