US President Donald Trump has been using special orders to make big changes to the US government. But on Sunday, he announced an order against a tiny target – the US penny. The change, if it happens, could have important effects.
On his social media site, Mr. Trump said that making pennies was “wasteful”. He said it costs the US government more than 2 cents to make a 1-cent coin. Mr. Trump said he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to stop making the coins.
The US Mint is the part of the US government that makes coins. It is run by the US Department of the Treasury, which Mr. Bessent leads.
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US President Donald Trump said he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to stop making pennies. The US Mint is the part of the US government that makes coins. It’s run by the Department of the Treasury, which Mr. Bessent leads. Above, Mr. Bessent (left) looks on while Mr. Trump signs an order (not the one about pennies).
Why Target the Penny?
The penny is the most common coin in the US, but it is also the least valuable. Some people don’t even bother to pick pennies up when they drop them.
But even though the value of a penny is just 1 cent, last year, it actually cost the US Mint 3.69 cents to make each penny. That’s because of the cost of the metals used to make a penny – zinc on the inside, with a copper coating.
Those little costs add up. The Mint produced 3.2 billion pennies last year, and it lost over $85 million in the process.
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The value of a penny is just 1 cent, but last year it cost the Mint 3.69 cents to make each penny. That’s because of the cost of the metals used to make a penny – zinc on the inside, with a copper coating. Above, metal “blanks” for pennies being moved at the Mint before they’re actually turned into coins..
Mr. Trump believes that by stopping the Mint from making pennies, he will save millions of dollars. But the question is actually more complicated than that.
First off, as with many of Mr. Trump’s other orders, it’s not clear that he has the legal power required to make the demand. It’s actually the US Congress which is in charge of telling the Mint what to do. Some experts say it’s possible that Mr. Trump could get the Mint to stop making pennies, but to completely get rid of pennies in the US would require a law from Congress.
(Source: Cropped from slgckgc [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr.com.)
Is It a Good Idea?
Some people agree that getting rid of the penny is a great idea, and will save the US money. They say that pennies aren’t needed much anymore because people are mostly paying with credit cards and other systems that don’t use cash. In 2024, about 87% of purchases in the US were made without cash.
But others believe that getting rid of the penny will make things more expensive. If there are no pennies, prices will need to be rounded (shifted) to the nearest five cent mark. Some people worry that businesses might take the opportunity to move prices higher. But if rounding is done fairly, prices will probably stay about the same for most people.
(Source: Jason Deines, via Pexels.)
A bigger question is: Will dropping the penny save the US government money? Maybe not. The Mint loses far more money on each nickel than it does on each penny. Last year, each of the five-cent coins cost the Mint about 13.8 cents to make.
The Mint has been trying to cut back on the number of nickels it produces. But if it has to produce more to make up for the missing pennies, the government could wind up losing millions of dollars.
Did You Know…?
Several other countries have gotten rid of their smallest coins. Canada dropped its penny in 2012. Australia, New Zealand, and several European countries have gotten rid of their 1-cent and 2-cent coins. Prices are now rounded to nearby 5-cent values in all these countries.