The United States has officially stopped producing the one-cent coin, known as the penny, citing costs that exceed its face value.
The US Mint announced on Wednesday that no new one-cent coins would be circulated, ending a production legacy that spanned 232 years.
In a statement, the Mint explained that economic and industrial factors, alongside changing consumer behaviour, had rendered the penny’s continued production unsustainable.
Over the past decade, the cost of producing a single penny increased from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents, the Mint revealed.
There are an estimated 300 billion pennies already in circulation, a quantity far exceeding what is needed for transactions, it added.
The decision aligns with a request made by US President Donald Trump in February to halt the production of pennies as part of efforts to reduce public spending.
The Mint clarified that pennies may still be minted in the future, but only as collector’s items.
Other countries, including Canada in 2012, have already discontinued their one-cent coins for similar reasons of cost and obsolescence.
