Penniless!

People pick them up for good luck. They’re tossed into fountains and valued by collectors. More than 3 billion pennies were made in 2024 alone. And on November 12, 2025, the United States Mint produced its final batch.

LAST ONE Brandon Beach, the U.S. treasurer, holds up the country’s last penny on November 12, 2025.

After 232 years, no new 1¢ coins will be made. Pennies are far from gone: An estimated 250 billion of them are still in circulation, and they’ll continue to be accepted as legal tender × tender a form of payment (noun) . But the U.S. is officially on its way to becoming penniless.

Government officials spent months winding down penny production. The coin is being discontinued to save money: Last May, the U.S. Mint announced that the cost of producing one penny is nearly four times its value. The government expects to save $56 million per year by not making the coins.

BIG MOMENT Cameras roll as Beach stamps the last penny, on November 12, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Read on to learn about the history of the penny, and what happens now that it’s on the way out.

History of the Coin

The penny was one of the first coins the U.S. Mint made, shortly after its establishment in 1792. It used to be larger, and made of pure copper. Nowadays, a penny measures just three-quarters of an inch across, and is made almost entirely of zinc, with copper plating × plating thin metal coating (noun) .

The U.S. Mint produced pennies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Denver, Colorado. In 2024, more than half of all coins produced were pennies.

THE END The last pennies are stamped with an omega symbol (behind Abraham Lincoln). They’ll be auctioned off.

Lawmakers have been trying to get rid of the penny since 1989, when Congress introduced a bill to round cash transactions to the nearest nickel. It didn’t pass. In 2013, talking about the penny, President Barack Obama said, “We’re spending more money on something that people don’t actually use.” A decade later, bills aimed at changing the composition of the coin to cheaper material were introduced. Those failed too.

In February 2025, President Donald Trump posted about the issue on social media. “For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2¢,” he wrote. “This is so wasteful!”

The government will continue to produce special versions of the penny in limited quantities. These will be intended for collectors and historical purposes, rather than for regular circulation.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association announced the results of a survey in November. The survey found that thousands of retailers are seeking guidance on how to handle cash transactions.

Canada discontinued the production of its penny in 2012. At the time, the Canadian government told retailers to round cash transactions to the nearest 5¢ when pennies weren’t available. In October 2025, a group of U.S. trade associations representing thousands of businesses urged Congress to offer similar guidance.

“These businesses—large and small—must be able to . . . avoid unintended operational hurdles that are being caused by the rapid loss of the U.S. penny,” the group wrote in a letter. Otherwise, the group said, it will become “challenging to legally engage in cash transactions with customers.”

A Penny For Your Thoughts?

Which of these popular penny-related phrases do you know? Can you think of others?

In for a penny, in for a pound: Once you’ve started something, see it through.

He’s penny-wise, pound-foolish: He’s careful with small amounts but not large ones.

He turns up like a bad penny: He keeps coming back, unwanted.

It’s worth every penny: It’s totally worth the cost.

It cost a pretty penny: It was really expensive.

Aha! The penny dropped: I finally understood something.