Mint orders last batch of pennies after Trump nixes one-cent coin

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on May 22, 2025

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The U.S. Mint on Thursday said it has ordered the last batch of pennies after President Donald Trump ordered the elimination of the little-loved one-cent coin.

With the cost of producing a single penny already skyrocketing to about 4 cents, Trump in February ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who oversees the mint, to stop making new copper coins as soon as possible.

By ending production of new pennies, the Treasury expects an immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the news.

But the ubiquitous pocket and purse fillers bearing the likeness of President Abraham Lincoln are unlikely to become scarce overnight.

There are about 114 billion pennies currently in circulation in the United States, the Treasury says, with an untold number buried in sofa cushions or rattling around under car floor mats.

Aside from its outsized production cost, anti-penny advocates cite the coin’s limited utility as prices have risen and consumers shift to digital payments and card transactions.

Fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and nostalgia for a bygone era when one penny could buy a piece of gum. They argue that nickels are a big money loser, too, costing nearly 14 cents apiece to produce.

Pennies are the most popular coin made by the U.S. Mint, which reported making 3.2 billion of them last year. That’s more than half of all the new coins it made last year.

Congress, which dictates currency specifications such as the size and metal content of coins, could make Trump’s order permanent through law. But past congressional efforts to ditch the penny have failed.

The nation’s treasury secretary has the authority to mint and issue coins “in amounts the secretary decides are necessary to meet the needs of the United States.”

The penny was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792.

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