Penny for your thoughts? Not anymore
President Trump has instructed the Treasury Secretary to stop producing pennies.
Transcript:
Conway Gittens: President Trump is looking to fix the federal budget one penny at a time. Literally. Trump ordered the end of the production of the one-cent coin because it costs more than a cent to make it. The U.S. Mint said a penny costs 3.7 cents to make and distribute, up 20 percent from the previous year.
In a post on Truth Social ,Trump said “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 its a penny at a time.”
Related: 12 things to know about Trump's new tariffs
The cost of the penny has gone up due to the rising costs of its components, which are largely zinc and copper. The penny is one of the first coins ever made by the U.S. mint once it was established back in 1792. And has boasted the likeness of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909. As of 2023, there were about 4.1 billion pennies in circulation.
According to the NYTimes, the penny needs to go because we hoard pennies instead of actually using them as currency. And that’s for those of us out there who even use cash. With the rise of digital payments most people barely even touch a penny. The U.S. mint, however, keeps on making them.
Like many things,Trump’s declaration alone won’t end the penny as we know it. Since the penny was created by an act of Congress in 1792, it’s going to take an act of Congress to put it to a cent-less grave.
Turning to Monday’s market action, stocks are staging a rebound after inflation worries knocked the wind out of the market on Friday. McDonald’s is trading higher even though quarterly sales missed expectations. The shortfall was due to a drop in U.S. sales caused by an e.coli outbreak in October.
From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
