In May 2025, the Secretary of Treasury was ordered to stop the production of new pennies.  The production of pennies has been ordered to stop in the beginning of 2026, which is getting closer as the days go by.  As the discontinuation of pennies is nearing, there are raising concerns and potential benefits. 

It costs four cents to produce a singular penny.  It costs more to make a penny than how much it’s worth.  When talking about the costs to make pennies, student Ellie Dimopoulous said, “it seems wasteful.”  With that being said, to create a nickel, it costs the U.S. Mint roughly 14 cents.  On the other hand, an article from NBC10 explained how in order to make dimes, it costs the U.S. Mint almost six cents, and the quarter costs nearly 15 cents.  Eliminating the production of pennies has been reported to result in saving $56 million a year.  

“I think we’re still going to need pennies,” said student Grace Barber. “And making less pennies isn’t going to help.”            

It will take time for the penny to completely disappear from wallets and cash registers, but the history will remain.  The United States Mint, where all coins are produced and circulated, began the official production of pennies in 1793.   The first penny was engraved with a woman with flowing hair, and the government explained this is “symbolizing liberty”.  From then on, pennies have evolved to the copper face of Lincoln that we all know.  

Some citizens fear that the stopped production of the penny is getting rid of history during these changing times. “We’re not eliminating it (the penny) because of tradition,” said Dimopoulous.  With the government’s reason for eliminating pennies, there is nothing about trying to destroy parts of history; the removal of the penny is more of an economical tactic. 

“Pennies are so unnecessary, they take up more space in our wallets than needed,” said student Milina Quizhpi-Lema. 

What’s going to happen to prices ending in 99 cents? Even though most transactions use cards nowadays, there are still plenty of people who use cash.  “I do use my change a lot,” said student Celia Vallone.  With the removal of the penny, there is an inkling that companies will be guided towards rounding their prices to the nearest dime and nickel.  Another name for this is “rounding tax”.  From an article from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the potential for rounding when it comes to cash transactions is as follows: if a price ends in one, two, seven or six cents, the price will be rounded down.  If the price ends in three, four, eight or nine cents, the price will round up. Even with these supposed rules, most businesses will most likely lean towards rounding up their prices.  Student Ashlyn Sullivan said, “Even though it would only be a few cents, it adds up overtime.”            

“The elimination will definitely lead to something bigger,” said student Jenna Santo. “This is just the small step.”

With the production of the penny ending at the start of 2026, there is much more that will come with it.  Vallone said, “people mostly use credit/debit cards and Apple pay a lot more now.” Although this is true, pennies are a part of everyday life.  At registers, there are ‘take a penny, leave a penny’ trays. Cashiers may ask if you want to round up one cent for donations and charities.  Pennies are thrown into wishing wells and fountains; it’s more than just money. 

On a positive note, discontinuing the production of pennies will save the government $56 million a year, but where will it go? Talking about the saved money, Sullivan said, “(the money) would probably just go right into the government’s pockets. So no matter what, people will lose.”      

It will take time to completely get rid of using pennies in everyday transactions, but it leaves room for questions.  Is this a change for the better?