Does the Government Have Any Cents? No More Penny Production

Penny for your thoughts? 

For over 230 years, pennies have been the base of our currency—but turns out it actually cost 4 cents to make one cent. (I know—makes no cents! I mean, sense…) There’s been talk for years, but now it’s official: the U.S. Mint has officially stopped penny production. The last new shiny penny ever to be created was minted on Wednesday, November 12 at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. Turns out the price just got too high to keep printing pennies. The U.S. Mint’s Annual Report indicated a dramatic increase in the cost to make pennies: “The penny’s unit cost increased 20.2 percent.”

Don’t worry—this doesn’t mean all your pennies are about to be worthless. You can still use them; however, as pennies become less common, businesses will likely have to start rounding to five cents. According to Fox Business, there are already 300 billion pennies in circulation and cutting the production of pennies will “save roughly $56 million per year.”

Julianna SteenEdit ProfileJust think, your thoughts just might become worth five cents pretty soon.