Pennies have been an intrinsic part of American life for more than 230 years. We have all had a lucky penny. Ryan Trahan was able to cross America with a single penny while raising $1.38 million for the charity Feeding America. Our grandparents have fondly reminisced about how they used buy candy for pennies when they were little. However, thanks to the fiat system and rampant inflation, this small and humble coin is now going to say goodbye and retire from circulation.
It has reached a point where it costs more money to mint a 1¢ coin than its value in circulation, so the United States Mint has confirmed that it will stop producing it. According to experts, this has been postponed for some time. Before you get too melodramatic—let’s be honest, no one likes goodbyes—the last day these pennies were minted was November 12, 2025, right at the Philadelphia Mint. Thus ends the production of a coin that has accompanied our nation since the beginning of its monetary system in 1793.
Why the Government was bleeding cash with pennies
The order to stop minting the Zion penny comes directly from President Donald Trump, who signed it in January 2025. While the general public laments this decision, collectors and treasure hunters are rubbing their hands together at this opportunity. Discontinuation increases the potential value of certain existing coins, and some of these limited editions are already trading for thousands of dollars.
Returning to the main topic, production has been halted for economic reasons: the government was losing money on every unit produced—a financial phenomenon known as “negative seigniorage”. According to the most recent report from the Mint (in 2024), the cost of producing and distributing a single penny was approximately 3.63¢. Every time the Treasury manufactured a 1¢ coin, taxpayers lost nearly 4¢. This net loss, coupled with rising metal prices and distribution costs, resulted in a cost to the Treasury of $85 million in 2024 alone.
The silent culprit
The US dollar has been fiat money for about five decades. It used to be backed by gold, but one particular president thought it would be better to switch to the fiat system (which would allow him to print money with impunity to pay for whatever the government wanted). Instead of being backed by gold, its value comes from the confidence that the government will back it and that others will accept it. This fiat money allows central banks to increase the money supply when they deem it necessary.
Remember the stimulus checks that were sent out during the COVID pandemic about five years ago? Well, that’s where they came from. However, the world is not a lollipop paradise, and printing money whenever you see fit has consequences. If your local deli only sells 10 pounds of beef, but you give each neighbor in the neighborhood an extra $100, that doesn’t mean there’s more beef for everyone, but rather that the price per pound skyrockets. This is inflation, and it’s what can cause your shopping cart to become more and more expensive, even though you’re still buying exactly the same things.
It is inflation that has killed the penny. Today, you cannot buy anything—not even a single piece of gum—with a one cent coin. If we carry it in our wallets, it is out of patriotic sentimentality, collecting, or simply because you paid with cash and were given change that you do not plan to use.
What you could historically buy with a couple pennies
A penny may be worth very little today, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy its purchasing power in times gone by:
- At the end of the 18th century, the first editions of newspapers sold for one or two pennies. You could also buy a glass of light beer or cider in taverns. Due to pre-industrialization, a single large nail or a small candle also cost that much.
- If we look at the mid-1800s, at that time you could buy a loaf of bread or a roll. There were sweets such as Penny Candy, which was called that because that was its price. In large cities where there was a lot of competition among publishers, newspapers were also sold for a very cheap price of one cent.
- By 1920, postal rates set the price of a postage stamp at one or two cents. Local phone booths charged one cent per call before the Great Depression, and you could buy a stick of gum or a bag of roasted peanuts at a stand on the street corner.
- By the 1950s, you could only buy individual pieces of candy with this coin. And in the 1970s, the penny’s usefulness was limited almost exclusively to receiving change in cash transactions.
We will miss you, penny, but we have to say that you have had a very fruitful life.