President Donald Trump may have just achieved his most bipartisan move yet Wednesday: finally putting an end to the minting of pennies.
Since 1793, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act, the U.S. mint has produced the 1-cent penny. But a lot has changed since then, and in 2025, it has actually become too costly for the federal government to make pennies that Americans rarely use. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a free weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)
On Wednesday, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia produced the final one.
“God bless America, and we’re going to save the taxpayers $56 million,” U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said before minting the very last one.
The push to end penny production long had bipartisan support. In 2013, then-President Barack Obama called it a “good metaphor for some of the larger problems.”
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 12: Treasurer of the United States Brandon Beach stamps the last penny at the US Mint on November 12, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beach pressed the final pennies at an event held at the facility. The pennies pressed bear a special ‘Omega’ and will not be put in circulation, but will be auctioned off. (Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)
Even before Obama, Congress tried to nix the copper. A bill in 1989 sought to round all cash transactions to the nearest nickel, but it failed. During Trump’s first term, Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Mike Enzi of Wyoming introduced a bill that would have stopped penny production for a decade. Again, it failed.
However, after Trump took office for a second time, DOGE pointed to the fact that the penny costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars every year, prompting more momentum to end its production. The cost of making a penny had also increased in fiscal year 2024.
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
Soon enough, Trump announced the penny’s demise in February.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” he said. “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.”
The penny may have turned out to be wasteful in the end, but back in the day, it could go a long way, hence the phrase, “penny candy.” A postcard, a newspaper, a cup of coffee, a stick of gum, an ice cream cone — you could purchase all these items with a handful of pennies, if not a single penny. These were also the days of nickelodeons, movie theaters that offered admission for only a nickel.
Gone are those days, of course. And gone are the days of pennies. They are still legal tender, but most Americans will probably hold onto them for as long as possible, if not for purchasing, but for good old nostalgia.
Thus passes the copper glory of your junk drawer.