President Donald Trump said late Sunday that he has ordered the U.S. Treasury Department to stop producing pennies.
Pennies famously cost more than a penny to produce, putting them in the crosshairs of Trump and DOGE’s government efficiency push.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial, his social media site. “This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.
Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump added.
DOGE posted on X last month critical of the penny’s cost, hinting at its fate.
“The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023,” DOGE wrote on X. “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.”
According to the U.S. Mint’s latest report, the cost of all coins is on the rise. From the Mint’s 2024 report:
“FY 2024 unit costs increased for all circulating denominations compared to last year. The penny’s unit cost increased 20.2 percent, the nickel’s unit cost increased by 19.4 percent, the dime’s unit cost increased by 8.7 percent, and the quarter-dollar’s unit cost increased by 26.2 percent. The unit cost for pennies (3.69 cents) and nickels (13.78 cents) remained above face value for the 19th consecutive fiscal year.”
