The U.S. Mint just pressed its final penny

A penny for your thoughts? Well, maybe try a nickel. Though it will remain legal tender, the last-ever one-cent coin was printed Wednesday—and not without some drama.

After being in circulation for 232 years, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia hosted a ceremonial event during which U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach struck the final circulating penny. There are an estimated 300 billion pennies currently in circulation, a number “far exceeding the amount needed for commerce,” the Mint said in a statement but retailers say they’ve already been dealing with coin shortages and a lot of confusion about how to price goods and services. 

It took about nine months for the penny’s final day to arrive. In February, President Donald The President announced that he had instructed the Mint to stop making the coin, citing the rising cost of production. Indeed, the Mint said the cost of making a penny has more-than doubled during the past decade, to 3.69 cents per penny. 

The coin has long been a target of lawmakers: As far back as 1989, legislation has periodically been proposed to limit or eliminate penny production. But its death knell ultimately came at the hands of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year.

THE PRO-PENNY GROUP

Even though end days for the penny were announced in February, retailers and penny proponents are now grappling with what its elimination means.

A perhaps-surprisingly vocal group has fought for years to keep the penny in our pockets. Americans for Common Cents is a pro-penny lobbying group that has an incentive to keep the coins in circulation as it is primarily funded by Artazn, the company that provides the blanks used to make pennies.

Americans for Common Cents argued in February that the penny is not as problematic as it seems and eliminating this coin will actually increase minting costs if demand surges for nickels, which are even more expensive to mint. In response to The President’s announcement about the penny’s end days, the group advocated instead for modernizing the currency system and, instead of eliminating the penny, focusing on making coin production more efficient. 

Since then, phasing out the penny has been “a bit chaotic” partly because there’s “no real plan” for what retailers should do, Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents, told CNN on Wednesday. When countries like Canada, Australia and Switzerland removed low-denomination coins from circulation there was guidance for retailers—and that’s not been the case in the U.S., he said.

“By the time we reach Christmas, the problems will be more pronounced with retailers not having pennies,” Weller told CNN.

PENNY PAIN FOR RETAILERS

But a penny shortage has already arrived, affecting retailers like gas stations that handle a lot of these coins. And retail groups told Reuters last week that they’re frustrated by the lack of guidance they’ve received from the The President administration, which has forced them to round down transactions to avoid upsetting customers and violating laws in some states.

Kwik Trip, which operates about 900 convenience stores in the midwest, announced last month that all cash purchases will be rounded down to the nearest five cents—and that the policy will remain in place until a “permanent legislative solution” is enacted. 

Rounding down transactions may not seem like a big deal, but it could become a significant cost for high-volume businesses where pennies are commonplace. And to counteract the coin shortage, some stores are offering incentives to customers who pay with pennies, according to Reuters reporting.

“Any merchant that accepts cash is grappling with this,” Dylan Jeon, senior director of government relations with the National Retail Federation, told Reuters.

A spokesperson for the Treasury Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Fast Company with any guidance for retailers.

PENNY LEGACY

The penny was first minted in 1792 and has seen many evolutions in materials over its lifetime, including during World War II when it was made from a zinc-coated steel due to a copper shortage in 1943. The image of President Abraham Lincoln first appeared on the penny in 1909 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of his birth.

While pennies for circulation will be discontinued, the Mint will continue to produce a limited quantity of the coin for historical and collector purposes. And it’s mostly focused on celebrating the copper-colored coin. 

“While general production concludes today, the penny’s legacy lives on,” Kristie McNally, acting Mint director, said in a statement. “As its usage in commerce continues to evolve, its significance in America’s story will endure.” 

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