By stopping the one-cent coin’s production, one official says the Treasury expects an immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs.

Everything is making less cents. The US Mint has placed its final order of penny blanks and will stop producing the coin when those run out by early next year — marking the beginning of the end for one of the oldest continually printed money pieces in America,

The American penny has been in circulation since 1792. It will be discontinued because it is too expensive to make.

The American penny will begin its slow fade into non-existence as the government plans stop making the U.S. currency next year.

The federal government made its final order of penny blanks this month — the first step to end the production of the 1-cent coin, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department confirmed to USA TODAY.

Fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative bargain in production costs compared with the nickel.

Per the latest U.S. Mint report, it costs less than six cents to make a dime ($0.0576). To make a quarter, it costs about 15 cents ($0.1468), and nearly 34 cents for a half-dollar ($0.3397).

The US Mint has made its final order of penny blanks and plans to stop producing the coin when those run out, a Treasury Department official

The federal agency placed its final order for penny blanks this month, with the United States Mint slated to end manufacturing of the penny when that runs out, a Treasury official told CBS MoneyWatch.

The U.S. Mint took top honors in "Best Circulating Coin" at the 2025 Mint Directors Conference for the work on the Jovita Idár issue in the American Women quarter dollar series.