The Penny is gone

WHEN President Donald J. Trump announced on February 11 this year that he had ordered his administration to cease the production of the 1-cent coin, many coins experts instantly plunged into the nation’s history books tracing the various sizes, looks, shapes and the metals used for minting old editions of these coins from time to time during the past rulers.

President Trump now in his second White House term, has been initiating several landmark transformations in many sectors of his administration that did not receive the attention of his predecessors. Therefore, it’s not only the change in the nation’s currency – doing away with the humble 1-cent coin – he has also proposed change in the name of “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America”, implementing new tariffs; firing several department’s inspectors general - the watchdogs and prosecutors; he has named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center; he has suspended passport applications for those seeking a gender change, people who don’t wish ‘to mark their sex as male or female.’

But ceasing production of 1-cent coin will be the Trump administration’s major decision. “The Penny is gone,’’ the President announced with a sense of relief. For, this move comes in cutting huge overall expenditure producing this small only copper coin. It’s estimated to cost more than the copper in it is worth.

According to recent media reports, the U. S. Mint in its 2024 statement, has said that it had lost $85.3 million in producing nearly 302 billion pennies. Producing one penny costs 2.76 pennies but is known to have recently gone up to 4 cents per penny, according to the U. S. Mint, and that ‘with little utility’. Its only use is in charity drives… the cost of production of one nickel, the second low-cost coin, (five-cent coin) is 14 cents.

Incidentally, the US Congressional efforts to stop minting pennies have failed, as The Washington Post reported recently. The New York Times also supported and averred that “if savings is the top priority, stopping production altogether is the only real option.’’ Meanwhile, a former chief executive of the U.S. Mint, Rhett Jeppson, has pointed out that while not stopping minting of penny is ‘clear money loser… but it is not that simple.’ He has opined that ‘paper money provides a benefit to the government similar to an interest-free loan.’

As ceasing minting the 1-cent coin, penny, confirmed to be the Trump administration’s ultimate decision, it’s interesting to learn how some U.S. print media platforms view it.

The Penny is on the way out. Can you still buy something with it? The wasteful pennies will no longer be minted in the U.S. The Treasury confirms the end of the penny. The US Treasury unveils plan to kill the penny. Why? Because the infrastructure and the costs of making pennies have swelled upward fast, by 20% in 2024, as per the notification by the Treasury Department. According to the U. S. Treasury, there are about 114 billion pennies currently in circulation in the country, i.e., $1.14 billion—but these are greatly underutilized, according to Treasury. The penny was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint after it was set up in 1792. Thus, with only a few months to go down into America’s eventful history, its one-cent coin’s momentous and eventful 236-year-old-journey’s end is round the corner.

Finally, the manufacturers, companies and general merchants pricing their goods at $4.99 or $ 9.99 will have to think of changing their pricing strategies to be able to attract buyers. And marking these articles as $9.95 too may probably not help if the five-cent nickels are also not minted in large numbers; not forgetting the minting one nickel will cost 14 cents

Post script:

Authorized to be first issued on April 21, 1787, with a face value of 1/100th of a dollar, the Penny or the coin, the cent, was minted in the pure copper, according to the book, “A Guide Book of United States,” authored by Q. David Bowers, a noted numismatist.