PHILADELPHIA — In 1793, a penny could get you a biscuit, a candle, or a piece of candy. These days, many of them sit in drawers or glass jars and are tossed aside or collected as lucky souvenirs.
But their luck is about to run out.
It is scheduled to strike at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia The last penny in circulation On Wednesday, the president canceled the one-cent coin as the cost of manufacturing it had become greater than its value.
President Donald Trump has ordered their demise as costs rise to nearly 4 cents per penny and the 1-cent valuation becomes somewhat obsolete.
US Mint Pennies have been made In Philadelphia, the cradle of the nation, it has been since 1793, a year after Congress passed the Mint Act. Today, there are billions of them in circulation, but they are rarely necessary for financial transactions in the modern economy or digital age.
“For too long, the United States has minted pennies that have literally cost us more than our two cents,” Trump wrote in an online post in February, as costs continued to rise. “This is extremely extravagant!”
There are still a lot of people They have nostalgia to themSeeing them as lucky or fun to collect. Some retailers have expressed concerns in recent weeks Supplies ran out The final production is approaching. They said the phaseout was sudden and did not come without guidance from the federal government on how to handle customer transactions.
Some rounded prices to avoid shortchanging people, others implored customers to make the exact change, and the most creative among them offered prizes, like a free drink, in exchange for a stack of pennies.
“We’ve been calling for the abolition of the penny for 30 years,” Jeff Lennard, of the National Association of Convenience Stores, said last month. “But that’s not the way we wanted things to go.”
At the same time, some banks have begun rationing supplies, a somewhat paradoxical result of efforts to address what many see as a glut of coins. Over the past century, nearly half of the coins made at the U.S. Mints in Philadelphia and Denver have been pennies.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent and Treasurer Brandon Beach are expected to arrive in Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon to begin final production. The Treasury expects to save $56 million annually on materials by stopping their manufacture.
But they still have a better production cost-to-value ratio than nickel, which costs about 14 cents to manufacture. little dime, In comparisonIt costs less than 6 cents to produce and a quarter is about 15 cents.