The U.S. last week unveiled its plan to finally phase out the lowly penny. The Treasury Department has placed its last order for the coins, which will no longer be minted, though they will continue to be legal tender[17].

Per the latest U.S. Mint report, it costs less than six cents to make a dime ($0.0576). To make a quarter, it costs about 15 cents ($0.1468), and nearly 34 cents for a half-dollar ($0.3397).

The federal government made its final order of penny blanks this month — the first step to end the production of the 1-cent coin, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department confirmed to USA TODAY.

The penny’s run is coming to an end. First minted in 1792, it has been in circulation constantly. It wll be sunseted next year. Afterward, things that cost a penny must “round up” or “round down” to a nickel.

After more than two hundred years, the humble one-cent piece is on its way out due to production costs that significantly exceed its face value.

The penny coin is getting phased out, a cost-cutting move that could ripple through consumer behavior, retailers' pricing strategies and cash transactions. Why it matters: It'll be harder to make sense out of cents and get exact change after the one-cent coin's upcoming demise.

The U.S. Mint took top honors in "Best Circulating Coin" at the 2025 Mint Directors Conference for the work on the Jovita Idár issue in the American Women quarter dollar series.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump posted on social media. “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.”