US Mint in Philadelphia set to press final penny

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

11/12/25 12:53 PM ET


The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia is set to press its final penny on Wednesday in accordance with the Trump administration’s February directive ending production for the 1-cent coin.

As the penny slowly runs out of circulation, businesses will have to round up or down prices to the nearest five cents to provide customers change. However, the Treasury Department expects to save $56 million per year on materials by ceasing to produce pennies, according to The Associated Press.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post earlier this year.

A penny costs roughly 3.69 cents to make. Earlier this year, Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced a bipartisan bill to halt penny production.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5602167-us-mint-ends-penny-production/

[QueerDuck]

1. What shall I do with all the pennies I've been saving over the years? How long will they remain legal tender?

Or will they be devalued right away and become little more than decorative collector items?

[woodsprite]

7. Well, these are pretty but might take more pennies than you have...

?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640 https://prestigehaus.com/blog/post/penny-bar-countertop?srsltid=AfmBOopVPT-FxscLv9nRVfmB6qUMnO4-8244fMldnilFb2l-qOypJxD8



Pinterest shows a lot of floors, tables, and countertops. I'd have to do one with random placement. I'd probably get a pattern all finished then realize I messed up counting, which is the same reason I don't do big cross stitch projects

[QueerDuck]

8. OMG... that's BEAUTIFUL!! I love it!!

Thank you for finding and sharing that!

[Luciferous]

13. Those are gorgeous 😍

[BWdem4life]

9. I would think if they were not legal tender

they could be sold as scrap metal. Zinc and copper are more valuable than the actual penny.

[QueerDuck]

10. That's what I was thinking too.

I wonder (I'm sure I could find it online) if the US is the last country to discontinue its "penny" (and equivalent) coin.

I wish our dollar coin was smaller... making it more useful (but a frog wishes it had wings... so that's not going to happen).

[RazorbackExpat]

16. Every coin minted by a US Mint since 1793 that carries a denomination

in US currency is still considered legal tender.

[QueerDuck]

18. Good to know. I guess I was recalling how the Deutschmark and the pre-decimal currency in the UK...

had a limited life span after the changes went into effect. Those who failed to act by redeeming them (or spending them) ended up losing the value of the coins.

[RazorbackExpat]

20. During that time, a few coins have been demonetized

For example. gold coins were demonetized in 1933 but remonetized in 1965. Trade Dollars were demonetized for a time in the 1880s because they were minted with cheap silver for trade with China and not for domestic use. Today, both of those coin groups are worth far in excess of their face value.

At one time, pennies were legal tender only up to 10 cents. Supposedly, they are worth full value today. However, who knows what will happen if Trump is allowed to continue to issue executive orders against established US law

[EuterpeThelo]

2. Inflation

Now it will have to be at least a nickel for your thoughts.

[LudwigPastorius]

6. Every time it rains, it rains, nickels from heaven.

Nickel Lane is in my ears and in my eyes...

[Old Crank]

3. Save even more by getting rid of the nickel

They cost nearly 14 cents each.

Here in Europe we have 1 cent, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 cent coins. Plus the 1 and 2 euro coins.
The smallest bill is a 5.

[MaineBlueBear]

4. Paper dollars should be phased out for coins

if they really want to save money.

We are one of the few nations that issue paper currency for their base denomination.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. They have tried $1 coins multiple times

and the public generally rejected them (they were used quite a bit in vending machines - I know here in Philly a bunch of years ago, that is what was given out in change from many of the parking lot kiosks) - probably because the size was too close to that of a quarter.

[MaineBlueBear]

14. But we have never tried discontinuing the paper dollar

And launching a dollar coin at the same time like they did in Canada in the late 80's.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. But note this obscure (but legal tender) that STILL exists and is still being printed

(the above one printed during 45's first term)

The problem with something like that is obvious (even though that denomination has been around for well over a century)!

[twodogsbarking]

5. One area grocer was giving 2 cents store credit for every penny. Banks could do the same thing.

While it may have cost 4 cents to produce a penny they were used thousands of times. Divide 4 cents by the number of times used and the number is far right of the decimal.

[Deminpenn]

11. 40B for Argentina, but not a few

M to mint pennies. Talk about being pennywise and pound foolish.

[rickford66]

15. So we're save a couple of Trump golf outings.

[hunter]

19. In my favorite alternate universe you can live on a dollar a day.

It'll buy you safe secure comfortable housing, hot showers, self-service laundry, healthy meals, and a pint of Guinness.

And everyone gets at least a dollar a day whether they are employed or not.

Inflation is eliminated by taxing affluent and wealthy people at steeply progressive rates. The people who benefit the most from our society ought to pay the most for its maintenance.

In that universe a penny is worth something.

In our universe inflation is caused by the affluent and wealthy people who don't like paying taxes; people who are oblivious to or even relish the misery of others.