On February 9, 2025, President Donald Trump ordered the Treasury Department of the United States to stop the minting process of the penny. Minting is the process in which new coins are processed and added into the circulation of old coins. The concept of ridding the coins that have been in existence for 233 years may seem completely absurd, but it is not unheard of. There are many causes and effects of retiring the penny, some positive and some negative. Nonetheless, if this idea is authorized and implemented, there will be several changes to every-day life in America.
To start, the main cause of the discontinuation of the penny comes from the cost of developing them. On average, a one-cent coin costs 3.69 cents to produce, while nickels cost 13.78 cents to produce. “This is so wasteful…” writes Donald Trump on his Truth Social page, “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.” Understandably, this extreme difference in cost and worth is shocking to the vast majority of people. Although pennies have been in existence for over 200 years, the use and importance of them has dropped significantly, while the price of producing them has grown. The main goal of ridding these coins is to save money in the country’s budget, but until it is passed, it is unclear how significant the effects will be on the everyday lives of people living in America, or the businesses and foundations that use these coins.
One concern this topic brings is a difference in pricing and inflation. All across the country, there are price tags littered with numbers ending in eight and nines, but it would be impossible to give change back for such prices without the help of the little coin. The common solution given to this problem is “rounding” prices to make them end in a zero or five. While taking into account the current economic state of the country, this little inflation could cause some more problems in the long run. In Canada 2012, they stopped producing one-cent coins due to similar cost related reasons, and have since saved around $11 million dollars every year. Many other countries such as New Zealand and Australia have also considered similar processes, so yes, halting the production of the penny has been thought of world-wide.
The effects this ban will have on the USA will not be discovered until it has fully been approved, but hopefully, it will help with financial struggles and save money in the long run.