For more than 230 years, America’s smallest-value coin has carried a big symbolic load — from a “lucky penny” tucked in pockets to the little copper pieces that once helped make exact change. The one-cent piece has been part of everyday American life since the early 1790s. Yesterday (Nov. 12), that era effectively ended. At the US Mint in Philadelphia, Treasurer Brandon Beach struck the last penny destined for circulation, closing the book on the nation’s lowest-value coin as a circulating currency.
Goodbye, Penny
“Today the Mint celebrates 232 years of penny manufacturing,” said Kristie McNally, acting Mint director. “While general production concludes … the penny’s legacy lives on. As its usage in commerce continues to evolve, its significance in America’s story will endure.”
The penny traces its roots to the Coinage Act of 1792, which authorized a copper coin worth one-hundredth of a dollar. Early cents were large, heavy copper pieces, featuring a woman with flowing hair on the front, symbolizing liberty. The Mint noted that the penny was among the first coins it produced after being established, and the first large cent pieces were made in Philadelphia in 1793.
The One-Cent History
Since 1909, Abraham Lincoln’s face has graced the head of the coin. On the back is a Union Shield, which was placed there in 2010. The 13 stripes on the shield represent the original 13 states. Across the top of the coin is a bar to symbolize Congress and the federal government, and includes the national motto “E Pluribus Unum,” Latin for “out of many, one.” The shield embodies the country as a whole, kept together by Lincoln. The penny used to be mostly copper, but since 1982, it has been made of copper-plated zinc.
For more than 50 years, the Philadelphia Mint made billions of pennies in a building that sits across the street from the cemetery where Benjamin Franklin’s gravesite is. Franklin even helped design one of America’s earliest copper coins, the 1787 Fugio cent. That coin carried his familiar warnings and humor: a tiny sundial with the word “Fugio,” meaning “time flies,” paired with his short message “Mind Your Business.” On the back, 13 linked rings represented the unity of the original states. Some say this was the first penny.
The penny has been a topic of debate for years. People who wanted to get rid of it said inflation made it almost worthless and that most Americans didn’t use pennies, often tossing them in jars or leaving them in drawers. Supporters claimed the penny still had sentimental value and allowed familiar prices such as $7.99, even helping to make small-change charity donations.
In the end, the decision came down to cost. The US Mint was losing money on every penny it made. According to the Mint’s 2024 annual report, each penny costs 3.69 cents to produce, more than triple its value. President Donald Trump pushed the final decision. In February, he wrote that making pennies was “wasteful,” saying the United States was minting coins “that literally cost us more than 2 cents.” He ordered the Treasury to stop production.
The Mint says about 300 billion pennies are already in circulation — far more than the country needs. That means businesses can still price items ending in .99 because there are plenty of pennies still out there, even without new pennies being added into the mix. Only small collector batches will continue.
What Happens Now?
For shoppers, nothing changes overnight. Pennies still work. You can spend them, deposit them, or roll them up. But as they slowly disappear from stores, the United States will likely move toward what Canada and several European countries already do: round cash totals to the nearest five cents.
Rounding will affect only cash users, though. Those who use debit or credit cards will pay the ticket price, which, depending on the store, could include pennies or be rounded to the nearest five cents. This may raise some fairness issues: Lower-income people tend to use cash more and will end up paying a bit extra through the rounding system. Then there’s the nickel: Like the penny, it costs more to produce (nearly 14 cents) than its value.
But the biggest change is symbolic. The days of a penny buying a newspaper or a piece of candy are long gone. Getting rid of it demonstrates how much the country has shifted to cards and digital payments. Federal Reserve research indicates people are using electronic payments more often each year as cash use gradually declines.
In Philadelphia, tourists might hesitate now before tossing a penny onto Ben Franklin’s grave for good luck, honoring his admonition, “a penny saved is a penny earned.” A coin connected with Franklin’s early ideas about money was made for generations only a few steps from his resting place, and the end of penny production closes a chapter tied to one of the Founding Fathers who thought deeply about how a young nation should earn, spend, and save.
The penny will still jingle in jars, get pressed into souvenirs at tourist traps, and turn up in couch cushions for years to come. But from now on, every time you hand one over at the checkout, you’ll be spending a little piece of American monetary history that will never be made again.
