The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, PA, produced the last penny on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, The Associated Press (AP) reports.
“God bless America, and we’re going to save the taxpayers $56 million,” U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said as he pressed the final penny, per AP, officially ending the manufacture of the 1-cent coin that has circulated since 1793.
Beach noted that the half-cent was the last coin to be discontinued in 1857.
President Donald Trump ordered the penny’s phase-out in February 2025, citing rising production costs that had climbed to nearly 4 cents per coin.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “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.”
Pennies will remain legal tender, but no new ones will be made. Mint officials shared plans to auction off the final few coins.
As penny supplies ran low and production ended, retailers said the phase-out felt abrupt and came with little government guidance on handling transactions, per AP.
In response, some stores rounded prices down to avoid shortchanging customers, asked for exact change, or even offered small perks — like a free soda — in exchange for spare pennies.
“Some businesses are asking cash-paying customers to voluntarily round up for donations to avoid needing pennies to make change and to stay compliant with state and local laws, while other places are rounding down for everyone (not just cash payers),” Brandon Sheridan, an economics professor at Elon University, told USA Today.
Ironically, the penny still has a better cost-to-value ratio than the nickel, which costs nearly 14 cents to make, according to AP. By comparison, the dime costs under 6 cents, and the quarter about 15 cents.
“We have been advocating abolition of the penny for 30 years. But this is not the way we wanted it to go,” said Jeff Lenard of the National Association of Convenience Stores, per AP.
