What to know as the US Mint in Philadelphia prepares to press its final penny

The U S Mint in Philadelphia will soon cease circulating its last penny marking the latest step in the -cent coin s demise President Donald Trump ordered the cancelation of the penny earlier this year noting that the cost of making them had became more than their value Here s what you should know about the penny s long history in the U S When was the first penny minted The penny was one of the first coins made by the U S Mint after its establishment in when only the half-cent was being produced along with the -cent coin Congress eventually discontinued the unpopular half cent in but kept the modest penny after deciding to making it smaller to save money on the copper needed to make the coin In contemporary times the penny is made with zinc with copper plating Where will these last pennies go There are an estimated billion pennies still in circulation in the U S according to the American Bankers Association This means the last pressed pennies won t disappear but circulation will slow Pennies still remain legal tender and will largely remain worth the same humble -cent On Wednesday U S Treasurer Brandon Beach advised reporters that they would auction off the final pennies printed in Philadelphia How countless pennies are there this day There are about billion pennies now in circulation in the United States but they are greatly underutilized according to the Treasury Are pennies really that expensive to make It costs nearly cents to make one penny according to the U S Mint Trump has called such production costs so wasteful while others have described the penny as obsolete The Treasury Department has estimated it will save million per year on materials by ceasing to make them However defenders of the penny say the cost is a bargain compared to the nickel which costs almost cents to mint Each dime costs nearly cents to make and distribute and a quarter costs nearly cents Where are pennies used A great number of people have a nostalgia for pennies seeing them as lucky or fun to collect They ve also long been tied to traditions and have shown up in rhymes like See a penny pick it up All the day you ll have good luck The penny has also remained useful not only for charity drives but also for those who continue to use physical cash and coins for purchases So what happens now For retailers the phase-out has been abrupt and in part key given that price tags ending in are a bedrock of American retail used to convince customers of a good deal The American Bankers Association says that particular banks and retailers may round cash transactions to the nearest five cents mimicking what countries like Canada and Australia did after phasing out their own lowest-value coins Source