Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“One cent coins will stop being produced in the US next year, the Treasury Department has confirmed. It marks the phasing out of the coins, commonly known as pennies, which have been in circulation for more than two centuries. President Donald Trump told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in February to stop minting the coins, calling them ‘wasteful.’ There has been a long debate over the cost and usefulness of pennies in the US. In January, Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) drew attention to the cost of minting pennies in a post on X. The penny was one of the first coins made by the US Mint, entering circulation in 1793. But over the past 10 years, the cost of producing it has risen from 1.3 cents to 3.69 cents per coin, according to the Treasury.” (05/22/25)