President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he has directed the US Treasury Department to cease the production of new pennies, citing the high cost of minting the one-cent coin, which exceeds its face value.
Trump announced this decision via his Truth Social platform, highlighting that each penny costs over 3 cents to produce, resulting in significant financial losses.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”
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The initiative aligns with efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, to reduce government spending. Last month, the organization noted the paradoxical costs associated with penny production, determining that it cost US taxpayers more than $179 million in 2023.
“The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced. Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts,” DOGE wrote on X at the time.
The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023.
The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced.
Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts.
Sources:https://t.co/Y5LlrpyA62…
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) January 22, 2025
The US Mint reported a loss of $85.3 million from penny production in the 2024 fiscal year. The cost of other coin production likewise increased last year, with the Mint’s annual report stating:
The penny’s unit cost increased 20.2 percent, the nickel’s unit cost increased by 19.4 percent, the dime’s unit cost increased by 8.7 percent, and the quarter-dollar’s unit cost increased by 26.2 percent,” the U.S. The unit cost for pennies (3.69 cents) and nickels (13.78 cents) remained above face value for the 19th consecutive fiscal year.
Last year, roughly 250 billion pennies were in circulation in the United States.
These rising costs, coupled with the nation’s increasing preference for cashless transactions, has led to growing support for ending penny production entirely. A 2022 poll found that 58% of Americans are open to discontinung the penny entirely, and legislative efforts to phase out the coin have been floated since the 1990s. None of these proposals have been able to gain significant traction.
Other countries, including Canada, have eliminated the equiavalent of their penny in 2012 due to similar cost concerns, while Australia abandoned producing one- and two-cent coins in 1992.
However, it remains unclear whether Trump has the authority to unilaterally stop penny production, as currency specifications are determined by Congress. according to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, “The Congress shall have power … to coin money [and] regulate the value thereof.”
Connor Walcott is the lead writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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