One Cent Coins are Expected to Stop Entering Circulation Early Next Year
I have been hearing about, but I just saw an article saying that the U.S. Treasury Department has announced that it will cease production of the penny in early 2026, marking the end of over 200 years of circulation for the one-cent coin. We are living in a pretty wild time, but this is pretty tame news wise so I'll take it at the moment even if it's a bit bitter sweet for me.
The decision to eliminate the penny stems primarily from its production cost. In 2024, each penny cost 3.69 cents to manufacture, resulting in an $85.3 million loss for the U.S. Mint that fiscal year. Considering the other waste this seem like pennies! This cost has been rising steadily, making the penny economically inefficient. Trump directed the Treasury to stop minting new pennies, labeling the coin as "wasteful." While the President's directive initiated the process, the actual authority to discontinue coin production lies with Congress. However, the Treasury can halt production by not ordering new penny blanks, effectively phasing out the coin which seems like the most likely path forward at the moment.
With the penny's phase-out, cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest five cents. This practice, already implemented in countries like Canada, aims to simplify transactions and reduce reliance on low-denomination coins. Legislation such as the "Common Cents Act" has been introduced to formalize this change, mandating price rounding and officially ending penny production. While eliminating the penny saves money, it raises concerns about increased reliance on nickels, which are even more costly to produce with each nickel costs 13.78 cents to make. I can only assume the nickel will be on the chopping block shortly as well.
This move reflects a broader trend of reevaluating currency in the digital age, balancing tradition with economic practicality. I'm toren being a collector of traditional fiat and cryptocurrencies. What I do know is with the phase out collectors may see an uptick in interest for existing pennies, especially those of historical significance so I'll be going through my coin jars looks for coins I want to keep. I'm also hedging my bets as many of you already know with physical precious metals, coin, fiat, stocks, bonds, and crypto since I don't know what will be the money of the future.
Same here, 1 and 2 cents will be gone and over time round by 5 if you pay with cash, no round if you pay with credit or debit card
Pretty soon it will be to the nearest dollar if we keep on this pace. I hate the CC purchases are now charging the retailer fee.. I just paid 5% at lunch yesterday while big cooperations get this fee discounted.
the retailer makes the customer pay the extra fee for cc? here all same prices, it's illegal to make 2 different ones
Yes cash and CC for many places have different prices. In the US I don't think there are any laws against it. I see it mostly at smaller retailer, but gas stations and mid to large sized companies have started...
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Ya we did that up here a few years ago. Makes sense as nothing costs a penny anymore and copper is needed for other things as a conductor of our essential electricity! It took a little change of process when doing a real money transaction but the cents still exist like they did before in digital format.
I haven't seen any appreciation in the value of coins but haven't looked in collector circles. I used to love to survey my useless collection of pennies in hopes of finding one from the 40s.
The Us is slow I still have a bunch of older CA stuff that I'm holding on to
"The decision to stop minting the penny marks a crossroads between tradition and modern economic realities. While it may seem like a minor change, it carries deeper implications about how our financial tools are evolving in the digital age and under economic pressure. As a coin collector, I feel a bit nostalgic, but I also recognize the logic behind this move given the rising production costs. This could be a unique opportunity for collectors to revisit what they have — and perhaps a sign that more changes are coming for other coins like the nickel. What’s happening to the penny today might be just the beginning."
It might be
"Abolishing the penny is a long-overdue move — its high production cost is hard to justify in a world shifting rapidly toward digital payments and away from cash.
It is
I think the announcement from President Trump is actually meant to get people to start hoarding Pennies... Because of the 100 to 1 Exchange Rate away from Fiat USD's, our One Cent Coins will increase 100 Fold in Spending Power... More than likely, "We the People" will be returning to the use of Copper Pennies since One Pound of Copper will only cost about 5 Cents... Don't forget that we will be adding 99 Decimal Cents to our Electronic Dollars and Cents, in order to be able to "make change" for One Cent Coins and One Cent Silver Certificates... In other words, this will end up being the Death of the Copper Coated Zinc Pennies, not the One Cent Coins themselves... Our One Cent Silver Certificates may be used more often than our One Cent Coins, so it is possible to that we will Mint less Pennies than we're minting now, but I don't think we'll stop issuing One Cent Coins... And we won't be rounding off to the nearest Nickel... Not since our Electronic Coinage will be denominated in Dollars, Cents and 99 Decimal Cents...
You think it's to create a surge in demand? I honestly don't know many people who stack pennies.
As per my version of the coming Reset, I think each of our One Cent Coins will have the Spending Power of One Paper Dollar... Usually, when there's talk of removing or stopping the production of certain things, people tend to hold onto them, or seek them out... I'm sure President Trump is aware of what I've been writing... Hopefully, he wants people who can only afford holding onto Pennies, to be able to get in on the Ground Floor of Silver Certificates and Electronic Coinage... I personally hold onto all the Common U.S. Coinage I get back with my change...
https://www.reddit.com/r/economy/comments/1kv5izw/one_cent_coins_are_expected_to_stop_entering/
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The coin collectors are already up in arms about this.
I can bet! I think I'll start stacking them time to buy a dump truck
In our country, these were abolished 15-20 years ago
The US is behind in a lot of things.
Yes
We have seen that there are many countries that have abolished such things a long time ago, and now here in our country too, there is a five or six rupee coin. The rest have disappeared. The notes that were worth one or two rupees were abolished long ago.
I think the US is behind I could see more digital money in our future.
Yeah you are right.
oh sad news for penny coin lovers.
SO true
These types of coins are quite very valuable. I really missed the days coins are spent
Some can be but pennies and nickels actually cost more to make than they are worth so it's probably good they are going.
The penny has seemed pretty irrelevant for a long time now. Learning how much it costs them to make the penny and nickel makes me wonder why they haven't discontinued both already. At this point, I think every country should just have one coin, make it useful (parking meters, what not), and cool designs that are maybe changed often and can be collected. I remember when they did the state quarters for a long time, and trying to collect them all as a kid. It would be cool if the penny is actually worth something some day after discontinuation.. maybe even in my lifetime haha
I think some pennies will go up but i think money will mostly go online. We just need to get away from all these processing fees which pad cooperate profits.
Yeah, completely agree. More than enough padding for corporate profits already!