President Trump has called for the U.S. treasury to stop making pennies. The penny costs more to make than it is literally worth.

Trump made the announcement after the big game last night.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.” -apnews.com

This idea of getting rid of the penny was floated around by Obama back in 2013. Even in the 1980's a congressman from Arizona wanted to do away with pennies.

The president is on a mission to stop wasteful federal spending as the country is nearing 36.5T is debt. The goal is to cut two trillion from the budget.

The U.S. Mint — a bureau of the Department of the Treasury — said in its annual report that it lost $85.3 million on the nearly 3.2 billion pennies it produced in fiscal year 2024. That was the 19th consecutive fiscal year that the unit cost for pennies has been above face value, it adds -npr.org

A penny costs 3.69 cents to mint.

A nickel costs 14 cents to mint.

When was the penny last copper?

The penny was 95% copper up until 1982 when it when to copper plated zinc.

It sounds terrible but I have been known to chuck my old dirty oxidized pennies in the trash. That's how long inflation has killed the buying power of a penny!

So, what now?

Trump alone can't kill the penny, the lowest valued denomination of U.S. currency, alone. He needs Congress.

The nickel will take over and prices of items will either be rounded up or rounded down to the nearest 5 cents.