US Treasurer Brandon Beach visited the Philadelphia Mint on Wednesday to oversee production of the final circulating one-cent coin or penny, ending 232 years of penny production in the United States.
US President Donald Trump said in February he was ordering Treasury to halt what he called the "wasteful" minting of pennies, prompting gas stations, fast-food chains and big-box stores to adjust prices and round cash transactions.
Treasury said rising production costs and rapidly changing consumer habits and technology had made production of pennies "financially untenable" and unnecessary, noting that it now costs 3.69 cents to make each penny, up from 1.42 cents a decade ago.
Suspending production of the penny is expected to save the US Mint about $56m a year, Treasury said. Pennies will remain legal tender, with an estimated 300 billion of them in circulation, "far exceeding the amount needed for commerce," Treasury said.
The US is joining other countries, including Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in phasing out their lowest-value coins, rounding cash transactions up or down to the nearest five cents while keeping electronic payments exact.
The penny was first issued by the US government in 1793. Since 1909, the profile of US President Abraham Lincoln has adorned the obverse side of the coin made of zinc and copper.
For many Americans, however, the coin has become a nuisance that ends up being discarded in drawers, jars and piggy banks.
