When President Donald Trump announced his intention to eliminate the penny Sunday, he cited the rising cost of producing the coin. Data from the U.S. Treasury shows it’s not the only coin that costs more than it’s worth.
Both the penny’s and the nickel’s manufacturing costs are greater than their face values, according to a report from the Treasury in December. It cost nearly 4 cents to mint and distribute a single penny during the 2024 federal fiscal year, which ended in September. The production cost of a nickel has risen to nearly 14 cents.
Rising material costs have affected all denominations. A quarter cost 23% more to make last year than it did in 2023; the penny cost 17% more.
The U.S. Mint has been producing fewer pennies and nickels in recent years to minimize losses. About 3.2 billion pennies were manufactured in the 2024 fiscal year, compared with 5.3 billion three years earlier.
The United States wouldn’t be the first country to stop minting its 1-cent coin. New Zealand and Australia discontinued their pennies in 1989 and 1992, respectively. Canada discontinued its penny in 2012. Proponents of abandoning the penny cite cost savings and a general redundancy as Americans use cash less.
It’s unclear whether Trump has the authority to single-handedly eliminate the coin. The United States hasn’t discontinued a coin since the half-cent in 1857, which required congressional approval.
If the penny is discontinued, it will join the ranks of other obsolete American coins, including the trime, a 3-cent coin discontinued in 1873, and the gold dollar coin, which was discontinued in 1889; that differed from the dollar coin currently in circulation.
