![\"Death](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Death_of_the_Penny_92779-1880x1254.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe U.S. Mint on Wednesday ended production of the penny, a change made to save money and in recognition of the growing irrelevance of the 1-cent coin.<\/p>\n
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Blank coins wait to be the last pennies pressed at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025.
\n(AP Photo\/Matt Slocum) <\/p>\n
\n AP Photo\/Matt Slocum <\/p>\n
![\"Death](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Death_of_the_Penny_94006-1880x1254.jpg\")
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A die for a penny press is seen at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025.
\n(AP Photo\/Matt Slocum) <\/p>\n
\n AP Photo\/Matt Slocum <\/p>\n
![\"Death](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Death_of_the_Penny_30633-1880x1254.jpg\")
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A penny press is seen at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025.
\n(AP Photo\/Matt Slocum) <\/p>\n
\n AP Photo\/Matt Slocum <\/p>\n
PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 The U.S. Mint on Wednesday ended production of the penny<\/a>, a change made to save money and because the 1-cent coin that could once buy a snack or a piece of candy had become increasingly irrelevant.<\/p>\n The last pennies were struck at the mint in Philadelphia, where the country\u2019s smallest denomination coins have been produced since 1793<\/a>, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act. Officials said the final few pennies would be auctioned off.<\/p>\n \u201cGod bless America, and we\u2019re going to save the taxpayers $56 million,\u201d U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said just before hitting a button to strike the final penny.<\/p>\n Pennies remain legal tender, but new ones will no longer be made.<\/p>\n The last coin to be discontinued was the half-cent in 1857, Beach said.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump ordered the penny\u2019s demise as costs climbed to nearly 4 cents per penny and the 1-cent valuation became somewhat obsolete. Billions of pennies remain in circulation, but they are rarely essential for financial transactions in the 21st century economy.<\/p>\n \u201cFor far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,\u201d Trump wrote in an online post in February. \u201cThis is so wasteful!\u201d<\/p>\n Still, many people have a nostalgia for them<\/a>, seeing them as lucky or fun to collect. And some retailers voiced concerns in recent weeks as supplies ran low<\/a> and the end of production drew near. They said the phase-out was abrupt and came with no government guidance on how to handle transactions.<\/p>\n Some rounded prices down to avoid shortchanging shoppers. Others pleaded with customers to bring exact change. The more creative among them gave out prizes, such as a free drink, in exchange for a pile of pennies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been advocating abolition of the penny for 30 years. But this is not the way we wanted it to go,\u201d Jeff Lenard of the National Association of Convenience Stores said last month.<\/p>\n Some banks, meanwhile, began rationing supplies, a somewhat paradoxical result of the effort to address what many see as a glut of the coins. Over the last century, about half of the coins made at mints in Philadelphia and Denver have been pennies.<\/p>\n