The United States Mint struck its final circulating penny on Nov. 13 in Philadelphia, ending more than 230 years of one-cent coin production and moving the U.S. closer to a cash-rounding regime long familiar to Canadians.
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach activated the press for the last batch of circulating one-cent coins on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the Philadelphia Mint, where the country’s first pennies were also produced in the 1790s. The move follows a directive from U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year ordering an end to penny production as a cost-cutting measure. According to news reports, the final two minted pennies yesterday will be put up for auction.
For the Mint, economics finally caught up with sentiment. In recent years, it has cost about 3.69 cents to manufacture and distribute each U.S. penny – more than triple its face value – as metal and production costs climbed. Treasury officials estimate ending circulating production will save roughly $56 million a year once existing inventories of planchets are used up.
Despite the ceremonial “last strike,” the penny will remain legal tender in the United States. There are an estimated 300 billion U.S. pennies already in circulation, many of them sitting idle in jars, drawers and coin hoards rather than moving through tills. Retailers can still price goods to the cent, but cash transactions are expected to be rounded to the nearest five-cent increment, mirroring Canada’s approach when it pulled its own one-cent coin from circulation.
Canada stopped producing its penny in 2012 and ceased distribution to financial institutions on Feb. 4, 2013. Since then, cash totals have been rounded to the nearest five-cent piece, while cheques, debit and credit payments continue to be settled to the exact cent.
Numismatically, the end of the U.S. circulation strike does not mean the end of the coin itself. U.S. officials have indicated the Mint will continue to issue limited collector and numismatic editions of the one-cent coin, similar to how other discontinued denominations are treated. Those special issues – along with any ceremonial “last penny” pieces retained or auctioned – are expected to draw strong interest from U.S. and Canadian collectors alike.
For Canadian Coin News readers, the U.S. move echoes this country’s own penny story: a low-value coin whose production cost outstripped its face value, withdrawn from day-to-day use but destined to live on in change jars, charity drives and, increasingly, in albums and exhibits. The Royal Canadian Mint has continued that story since 2012 with a few commemorative coins celebrating the penny and its place in Canada’s numismatic and cultural history.