US Mint moves forward with plans to kill penny
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The American penny has been in circulation since 1792. It will be discontinued because it is too expensive to make.
The American penny will begin its slow fade into non-existence as the government plans stop making the U.S. currency next year.
The federal government made its final order of penny blanks this month — the first step to end the production of the 1-cent coin, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department confirmed to USA TODAY.
The U.S. Mint will make pennies as long as the blanks exist, but once they run out, there will be no more pennies produced, CNN reported. The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, said that no new pennies will be added to circulation by early next year.
The United States Mint is ready to launch the next $1 coin in its American Innovation series, honoring NASA's retired space shuttle.
The penny coin is getting phased out, a cost-cutting move that could ripple through consumer behavior, retailers' pricing strategies and cash transactions. Why it matters: It'll be harder to make sense out of cents and get exact change after the one-cent coin's upcoming demise.
The U.S. Mint took top honors in "Best Circulating Coin" at the 2025 Mint Directors Conference for the work on the Jovita Idár issue in the American Women quarter dollar series.