The US Has Stopped Making Cents
By Bob Small
Yhe Philadelphia Mint, Nov. 12, said goodbye to the lowly penny, which had a 232 year run.
The reason for discontinuance is “Over the past decade, the cost of producing each penny has risen from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents per penny”
As to the values, pennies made before 1982 have more value.
Those pennies were made from copper, while those after 1982 are zinc and copper. More modern pennies tend not to have the same worth as their earlier counterparts.
Charmy Harker, “the penny lady” recommended people interested in valuation buy A Guide Book of United States Coins 2026 .
The penny was “ first authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792/
There was a January DOGE recommendation to end penny production because making 4.5 billion pennies in 2023 cost taxpayers more than $179 million.
Evidently, there is not a very vibrant “penny lobby”, if one exists at all. A previous effort was proposed by Sen. McCain and Mike Enzi in 2017 .
Businesses may choose to round up or down to the nearest nickel.
Rounding up to a nickel may raise costs for shoppers. One study by researchers at the Richmond Federal Reserve estimated that could cost consumers $6 million annually. For comparison, Canada stopped one cent coins in 2012, New Zealand in 1990, and the UK suspended production. In 2024.
Wake Forest Economics Professor Robert Whaples, makes the point that “the last time we got rid of a coin was the halfpenny, and that was all the way back in 1857. “
He wonders how long the nickel will survive.
The Pittsburgh-based grocery chain Giant Eagle was willing to give a gift card worth twice the value of the pennies. A similar deal was available in Syracuse, N.Y.
According to Copilot AI, they can’t locate any Delco Stores offering this service.
