Treasury Department set to phase out the penny

Updated on: May 22, 2025 / 12:58 PM EDT / CBS News

The Treasury Department said it plans to stop manufacturing the penny, calling time on one of the first coins minted by the U.S. government.

The federal agency placed its final order for penny blanks this month, with the United States Mint slated to end manufacturing of the penny when that runs out, a Treasury official told CBS MoneyWatch. The blanks — flat, metal discs that the Mint turns into coins — will run out in early 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.

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The penny, which dates from the early days of the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792, now costs more to manufacture than the coin is worth. The 1-cent coin cost about 3.7 cents to manufacture and distribute in 2024, according to the U.S. Mint’s 2024 annual report.

Ending production of the penny will save the Mint about $56 million in annual savings, the Treasury said on Thursday.

Despite their coppery look, pennies are mostly made of zinc, with their distinctive appearance coming from a copper overlay. Zinc’s cost per metric ton is more than double what it was in 2000, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The Trump administration had recently signaled it was out to stop making the 1-cent coin, with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency saying in January that the penny was too costly to produce. In February, President Trump said he had directed the Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising production costs.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Mr. Trump wrote in a February post on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”

Previous presidential administrations have also scrutinized the penny due to the rising cost of production, with former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew pushing the idea in 2015.

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Aimee Picchi

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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