The last American penny was minted on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. Months after the Trump administration announced it would stop minting pennies, the U.S. Mint struck the final 1-cent coin. According to NBC News, the only new pennies the Mint releases will be collector versions that aren’t currency. “For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” President Trump said in February. The cost of minting a penny is nearly four cents, significantly greater than its monetary value. The U.S. Mint is poised to strike the final 1-cent coin on Wednesday, six months after the Trump administration announced that it would stop producing pennies because the cost of making them is four times more than they’re worth, AP reported. https://t.co/utDHLd62vy — NBC News (@NBCNews) November 12, 2025 NBC News shared more: Officially known as the cent, the first penny was struck in 1787 and had a sundial design that was dreamt up by Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers. The U.S. Mint took over penny production in 1793, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act. Like its predecessor, this penny was also made of copper. But it was slightly bigger and came to be known as the “Flowing Hair” cent because it had a woman representing liberty on one side and 15 chain links on the other side. It wasn’t until 1909 that the woman was replaced by President Abraham Lincoln in profile to mark what would have been his 100th birthday. The Mint said that ending penny production will save taxpayers about $56 million annually. And it will continue to be legal tender for as long as its around. The U.S. Mint reported losing $85.3 million in the 2024 fiscal year minting pennies. END OF AN ERA: US Mint in Philadelphia to press final penny as the 1-cent coin gets canceled. pic.twitter.com/uNXQ7plYUJ — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 12, 2025 CNN noted: The government’s phasing out of the penny has been “a bit chaotic,” said Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents. The pro-penny group is funded primarily by Artazn, the company that provides the blanks used to make pennies. “By the time we reach Christmas, the problems will be more pronounced with retailers not having pennies.” Weller said other countries that removed low denomination coins, like Canada, Australia and Switzerland, had guidance for afterwards. Not so in the United States. “We had a social media post (by Trump) during Super Bowl Sunday, but no real plan for what retailers would have to do,” he said, referring to the president’s February announcement. Watch the final pennies being minted below: