The Us Will Stop Minting Pennies Within Weeks

We’re losing Abraham Lincoln again. After 233 years, the US Treasury will discontinue penny production over the next month, federal officials announced yesterday, following a directive from President Trump.

The Treasury will stop circulating one-cent coins by early next year, and shortages will follow:

• Businesses will have to round prices to the nearest five cents for cash transactions. When Canada scrapped its penny in 2012, rounding up netted the average Canadian grocery store an estimated $157 extra per year.
• State tax administrators told Bloomberg they may not have time to update sales tax laws with information on rounded cash transactions before shortages hit.

To ease the transition, the Treasury might encourage people to dump out their piggy banks, one spokesperson said. But many may want to hold onto their pennies as collectors’ items.

A penny costs 3.7 cents to make, which ultimately lost the US more than $85 million last year on coins that mostly end up on the ground or otherwise forgotten. The Treasury projects that stopping the one-cent presses will save the US $56 million annually…

…but it might ultimately cost money: The US could easily wipe out penny savings if it needs to churn out more nickels, which cost nearly 14 cents each to mint.—ML