President Trump looks to halt production of the one cent coin

'Find a penny, pick it up' may be a phrase of the past as President Trump looks to halt production of the one cent coin.

MADISON, Wis. -- 'Find a penny, pick it up' may be a phrase of the past as President Trump looks to halt production of the one cent coin.

Last Monday the president announced that he directed the US Treasury to stop minting new pennies, noting production costs. In 2024, it cost roughly 3.7 cents to produce one penny, that's up from 3.07 cents in 2023. In comparison, the nickel costs roughly 14 cents to produce.

Pennies are also the most popular coin in the United States, last year 3.2 billion were minted.

It's unclear what the discontinuation of the penny would look like. The Treasury Secretary may be able to decide that the U.S. no longer needs the coin. Congress, however, dictates currency specifications and could make Trump's order a law.

"It's just in the beginning phase of all this," said Ken Meyer, a Madison coin collector.

Meyer is a fourth-generation collector and is the manager at Jim's Coins & Precious Metals.

"Nothing better than collecting money. It’s the best hobby in the world," he said.

In Meyer's eyes, the penny moving out of minting could mean an increased interest in the hobby and create other benefits for his industry.

"If it does get passed, well, then they're going to be able to change the rules. We'll be able to melt down the penny," he said.

Currently, the penny is composed of copper plated zinc. Although pennies are the most circulated coin, Meyer said it's also an unpopular one.

"There's a lot of people that I can throw the coins away because they're not worth anything for the, you know, the zinc, you know," he said. "But to be honest, zinc is starting to go up in price."

Madisonians have a variety of opinions on the one-cent coin:

“If they slowly fade out of existence, I don’t think anyone is going to miss them.”

“I have buckets of pennies, buckets. Like an ice-cream bucket full of pennies.”

“I just don't necessarily see an urgency to keep it in our currency.”

“I don’t use it all that often, but we grew up with the penny.”

Meyer said this isn't the first time a country has looked at getting rid of the one-cent coin. Noting Canada's move to phase at the cent about a decade ago.

"If they get rid of the coin, it's not the end of the world," Meyer said. "It's just going to help round up around [or] down to the nearest nickel."

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