Penny Production Ends

 

Above, a collection of "wheat" Lincoln cents. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Goodbye, penny.

The last pennies (Lincoln cents) had been producted on November 12 and no more will be made. 

Pennies actually cost more to produce than their face value. It will be interesting to see how this will affect purchases.

According to The Tennessean:

The last penny has been struck and change is coming to how we make change. But what happens next?

After 232 years of production, the U.S. Treasury Department ended production of the penny Nov. 12 with the final five pennies stamped with a special omega mark. They will not go into circulation and instead will be auctioned off in the future. The only pennies left will be those already in circulation, and some stores are already running short.

As pennies are phased out, prices will start to change, with items being rounded up to a nickel.

The currency that is only worth 1 cent costs about 3.7 cents to produce in fiscal year 2024, according to the U.S. Mint's annual report. A nickel costs about 13.8 cents to make. The price to make both coins has been on the rise for almost the last decade.

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