The US penny is officially dead
Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
- The US Mint produced the final penny on Wednesday.
- The coin costs almost $0.04 to make, and ending production will save more than $50 million annually.
- There are still around 300 billion pennies in circulation.
It’s a sad day for piggy banks everywhere. And 99-cent stores. And parents trying to teach their children the most basic idiom about frugality.
On Wednesday, the US Mint produced the final penny, ending the coin’s 232-year-old life. Treasurer of the United States Brandon Beach struck the last one-cent coin in Philadelphia, the US Mint said.
Born in Philadelphia in 1793, the penny had become a copper-coated emblem of government waste for some. The White House DOGE Office targeted the coin earlier this year, and politicians of both major parties have questioned its value. President Donald Trump criticized the penny in a Truth Social post in February.
The US Mint estimated that ending penny production will save $56 million in material costs every year, a spokesperson previously told Business Insider. Each $0.01 coin most recently cost almost $0.04 to produce, according to the US Mint.
Though production has ended, the US Mint said there are still around 300 billion pennies in circulation.