A rather unusual battle has erupted over the penny, the one-cent coin! According to US President Donald Trump, the humble penny’s time is up. The White House chief calls producing these coins a wasteful endeavor.
President Trump instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the production of pennies, citing their high manufacturing cost as the main reason.
"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation's budget, even if it’s a penny at a time," Trump declared.
According to the US Mint’s 2024 fiscal report, producing and distributing one penny costs about 3.7 cents. That is 20% more than the previous year, experts note. One reason for the rising cost is the increased price of metals, particularly zinc and copper.
For years, the penny has been a target of criticism. Last autumn, The New York Times Magazine wrote about the so-called “penny paradox”: most pennies end up as spare change, rarely getting spent. As a result, new pennies must be minted constantly to replace those vanishing from circulation.
Now, US authorities are taking the penny’s fate seriously. In January 2025, the Government Efficiency Department, headed by Elon Musk, published statistical data for 2023. The report revealed that penny production cost taxpayers $179 million.
Some analysts argue that eliminating the penny would save not only public funds but also time at checkout counters. With this initiative, lines would move faster, and productivity would increase.
