US Mint stops penny production after more than 230 years in circulation
The United States Mint said in its annual report that each penny costs 3.69 cents to make, almost three cents more than the coins value.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The final penny was minted on Wednesday in Philadelphia after over 230 years in circulation. The United States Mint said in its annual report that each penny costs 3.69 cents to make, almost three cents more than the coins value.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump announced his intention to stop penny production. As of yesterday, you could say we are a penny short.
“The very nature of currency is evolving,” Don Bruce, a University of Tennessee economics professor, said. “If you look at the history of currency and the history of coins, these things have been evolving for hundreds of years, and there’s no reason to expect that to stop just because we like a particular coin.”
Bruce said he thinks the nickel is up next. Not only that, he predicts a slight spike in prices for small businesses to account for those lost couple of cents.
“If I’m a small business owner, I’m going to be very reluctant to round up a customer’s purchase,” Bruce said. “More likely, I’m going to eat that expense, which means I’m probably going to raise my prices to account for it somehow eventually.”
Scott Gilpatric, department head and professor at UT’s Haslam School of Business, agrees. He said it doesn’t make sense to keep making these coins when so few people use cash anymore, but he doesn’t see penny production stopping having an economic impact — at least for right now.
“I don’t think that’s enough to have any real meaningful economic impact,” Gilpatric said. “It would have been very logical to eliminate both the penny and the nickel and just kind of move to a convention of taking a rounding to one higher decimal place.”
For coin collector William Kitts, these coins could eventually have more value to him than ever before.
“Eventually they’ll get to where you just can’t find what you’re looking for,” Kitts said. “This being the last one, it’s a low production. So, the less they make, the more attractive it is.”
Kitts, owner of WestSide Coins for 46 years, said the first thing people start collecting is typically pennies and nickels. His response to penny production stopping — If it’s not being made, people want it.
“If you are collecting them, whether it’s cards, coins, stamps, old rare cars,” Kitts said. “You want something that not just anybody can get.”
Coin collectors like Kitts might be in luck, but without a federal law, Tennessee retailers can’t legally round cash transactions. Retail trade groups are urging Congress to establish a national standards for rounding cash transactions.
With that, the oldest U.S. coin currently in circulation has been put to rest.