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Congress considers getting escaped of the penny
The Treasury Department said it plans to halt manufacturing the penny, calling clip 1 among one of the archetypal coins minted by the U.S. government.
The national bureau placed its last bid for penny blanks this month, with the United States Mint slated to extremity manufacturing of the penny erstwhile that runs out, a Treasury authoritative told CBS MoneyWatch. The blanks — flat, metallic discs that the Mint turns into coins — volition tally retired successful aboriginal 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal, which archetypal reported the news.
The penny, which dates from the early days of the U.S. Mint aft its constitution successful 1792, present costs much to manufacture than the coin is worth. The 1-cent coin outgo astir 3.7 cents to manufacture and administer successful 2024, according to the U.S. Mint's 2024 annual report.
Ending accumulation of the penny volition prevention the Mint astir $56 cardinal successful yearly savings, the Treasury said connected Thursday.
Despite their coppery look, pennies are mostly made of zinc, with their distinctive quality coming from a copper overlay. Zinc's outgo per metric ton is much than treble what it was successful 2000, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The Trump medication had precocious signaled it was retired to halt making the 1-cent coin, with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency saying successful January that the penny was excessively costly to produce. In February, President Trump said helium had directed the Treasury to stop minting caller pennies, citing the rising accumulation costs.
"For acold excessively agelong the United States has minted pennies which virtually outgo america much than 2 cents. This is truthful wasteful!" Mr. Trump wrote successful a February station connected his Truth Social site. "I person instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to halt producing caller pennies."
Previous statesmanlike administrations person besides scrutinized the penny owed to the rising outgo of production, with erstwhile Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew pushing the idea in 2015.
Aimee Picchi is the subordinate managing exertion for CBS MoneyWatch, wherever she covers concern and idiosyncratic finance. She antecedently worked astatine Bloomberg News and has written for nationalist quality outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
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