President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the minting of new pennies on Sunday because they cost almost four times their worth to make.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump posted Sunday night on Truth Social. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
According to The U.S. Mint, in 2024 each penny actually cost taxpayers 3.7 cents to mint.
The Mint said it lost $85.3 million in the 2024 fiscal year on the minting of almost 3.2 billion pennies.
The order came out of ongoing investigations by the Department of Government Efficency (DOGE) about ways the government can cut waste, fraud and abuse.
DOGE posted about the cost of making pennies January 21 on X, and Trump picked up on it as an area to cut.
The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023.
The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced.
Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts.
Sources:https://t.co/Y5LlrpyA62…
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) January 22, 2025
The cost of minting pennies has been a subject of debate for years.
Originally made from copper, the Mint switched to zinc with a copper overlay when pennies began to cost more than one cent to make.
In recent years, however, the cost of zinc has doubled, making it cost ineffective to produce them that way.
It doesn't really make sense to spend almost four cents to make a penny that is worth one cent. If a cheaper way to make pennies can't be found, it makes sense to use what's already in circulation, then start rounding up or down to five cents.
A commenter on the X post by DOGE pointed out that on overseas military bases, the commissary already rounds up or down to the nearest five cents.
Canada stopped minting pennies in 2012, according to the Associated Press.
But the AP also questioned whether Trump could order the Treasury to stop producing U.S. pennies without an act of Congress.
While it may be a little iffy to do so, the Mint could plausibly just stop minting pennies if it decided to do so.
It certainly seems like the $179 million spent to make them could be better spent elsewhere.
