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Goodbye, humble penny.
The government made its last order of penny blanks earlier this month, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department confirmed to BI. The US Mint will keep manufacturing the one-cent coins until it runs out of blanks, they said, meaning the penny will gradually fall out of circulation.
By the US Mint’s estimates, phasing out the coin will save $56 million annually in materials costs, according to the spokesperson. Each coin costs more than three cents to make, and the US Mint’s 2024 report found that costs increased by 20.2% that year. Savings will likely rise once the US Mint changes how it uses production facilities, per the spokesperson.
The White House DOGE Office took aim at the penny, an easy punching bag when it comes to government waste, earlier this year. In January, DOGE’s X account highlighted the coin’s cost, though Musk’s group didn’t have the power to get rid of the penny.
DOGE wasn’t alone in its critique — politicians across the aisle have criticized how much the penny costs, though decades-old efforts to phase out the coin have stalled in Congress time and again.
Other countries, like Canada and Sweden, have stopped producing pennies, and the progressive think tank Data for Progress found in 2022 that 58% of those surveyed agreed the government should stop making the coin.
The penny is embedded in American history and remains a forgotten staple at the bottom of many purses. The coin was first issued in 1793, meaning it will have had a more than 230-year run.
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