Trump announces plan to stop making new pennies, citing production costs
By: Minnah Arshad (USA TODAY)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!" Trump wrote. "I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies."
The penny has been in the crosshairs of Trump officials since he took office. Last month, DOGE, the department run by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, said that producing 4.5 billion pennies in Fiscal Year 2023 cost taxpayers more than $179 million.
That works out to over 3 cents per penny. Trump's latest 2-cent cost estimate gives the penny a break, but not enough to keep it from being axed from the mint's production.
"Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time," Trump wrote.
For the 2024 fiscal year, the annual U.S. Mint report said that it takes about 3.7 cents to produce and distribute one penny, a 20% increase from the previous year. The increase has been partly driven by the rising costs of metals like zinc and copper, according to the report.
Rising production costs have spurred other countries to eliminate small denomination coins. Canada stopped making pennies in 2012, and Australia stopped circulating one and two-cent coins back in 1992. In the U.S., discontinuing the penny entirely may require congressional approval.
Contributing: Fernando Cervantes Jr.
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I had three thoughts about this:
1. Vendors will be less able to fool mentally deficient and math-lacking customers that $9.99 isn't really ten bucks.
2. The day will come when nobody will know what "A penny for your thoughts" means.
3. Could it be a kind of racial prejudice? Pennies aren't shiny silver like other coins.
another saying that wont be understood , " watch the pennies , and the dollars will care for themselves ."
And there won't be any more "Pennies from Heaven".
I remember getting a quarter , going to the local mercantile , getting a comic book for a dime , a small glass bottle of coke for 5 cents and spending the rest at the penny candy counter , and walking out feeling like king of the world and having all i needed .
Arvo..
Our currency is 5, 10, 20, 50 cent coins...
And 1 and 2 dollar coins..
Then plastic $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes...
I save the $1 and $2 coins surprising how quick they mount up..and at the end of the year cash them in for Christmas..
Several EU countries no longer use one cent coins.
In China, where there are coins in use for lesser amounts, 1 Chinese yuan (a/k/a RMB) is the smallest amount to use paper money. It is the equivalent of a little less than US 14 cents, but it is also in coin form for the use in coin operated machines (although many such machines also accept paper money). I never carry coins with me, and if I get them as change I give them to my wife.
I don't carry coins, either. Vending machines usually take cards nowadays. In Europe, contactless card sales are pretty much the rule now.
In France, they're talking about eliminating checks, too. That would be good - I write maybe one per year.
Geez we stopped them back in 1992..1 and 2 cent coins are long gone..
I am astounded you mob are still minting them..
The cost to mint small change is higher than the value, but the durability of coins are their only advantage to paper. Americans have refused to utilize higher denomination coins...
Canada stopped producing pennies 13 years ago.
and keep in mind most coins for everyday use are made of non precious metals .
to get actual gold or silver coins they have to be ordered from the mint , and considered commemorative in nature , even if the actual metal value is higher in melting them down . no more pieces of 8 .
That's why we got rid of them..it cost more to produce 1 and 2 cent coins than what they were worth..
We don't use paper notes they went out with the ark in 1996..we use plastic notes very durable and ours are some of the hardest to counterfeit in the world..
Canada uses "Loonies" (nicknamed after the waterfowl that is depicted on it)
I believe the coins now depict King Charles II instead of Queen Elizabth.
And the Canadian two dollar coin is commonly called a "Toonie" (an amalgamation of the word "two" and "the word "Loonie" used for the one dollar coin).
Commemorative coins really can't be considered money - nobody who has one is going to try to spend it. If they want it to be a source of regular money they would have to sell it.
Plastic contributes to pollution. I just read an article today that I might post, that Chins is starting to use bamboo in place of plastic in certain items.
I guess now new bank notes will be switched for the old ones...
I can't find an image on Microsoft Bing for a new Canadian bank note other than the new $10 note that shows a woman's face in vertical format. I can't find one with an image of King Charles, but if he looks as stupid as on the one you posted I'm happy that it's something to cause laughter rather than respect because I have no respect for him.
The cost of coins isn't the metal. It's the minting process.
I read an article last night that the US made 4 billion pennies in 2023 , thats 40 million dollars in face value .
my thought is do we need to make that many every year? dont metal coins last longer than paper money ?
i dont know about anyone else but pennies in my pocket end up in the change jar never to be carried again until i turn them in . i just dont carry them unless i get them as change .
I use only the least expensive phone available, which is WAY inferior to an iPhone, so I do not have, nor do I want, the ability as so many others here have of paying by using their iPhone. I have always been and will always be a believer in my father's financial philosophy (and after arriving in Canada with 13 cents in his pocket he became a self-made very wealthy man): "If you don't have the cash in your pocket to pay for it, you can't afford it." I allowed my last credit card, an Anex card, to expire about a decade ago with them owing ME about a dollar or so.
We use Amex, because we get airline miles. NEVER for credit.
Since I no longer travel, I really no longer have any use for an Amex card, or any credit card, but I do need my Canadian and Chinese bank account debit cards.
I think I'm starting to lose it. For some reason I had not noticed that Just Jim had posted an article on this topic long before I did. What I posted here was at least from a different source and since it now has drawn many comments I am not going to delete it, but I am LOCKING it so that any further commentary on the topic is directed to Jim's seed.