U.S. penny phase-out: Mint presses the last one cent coin

A penny won’t get you very far today. 

The average New Yorker likely won’t bother to pick one up if found lying in the street and many are proud to tell a cashier to “keep the change” on a $2.99 tab.

In fact, the often difficult to discard copper-colored coin is more likely to be found at the bottom of a purse or in a jar established by parents optimistically encouraging their young ones to save for the future. Even the “Take a Penny, Leave a Penny” trays found at some retailers lost their appeal years ago.

But while the penny has virtually no monetary value in today’s society, its worth was never fully measured by its purchasing power.

For Long Islanders of a certain age, it’s a reminder of their youth when candy came cheap, as did the wishes from throwing one in a well or a fountain.

To others, pennies were parts of collections handed down from grandparents — a shared history measured, literally, in small tokens of appreciation.

On Wednesday, more than a few Americans were likely feeling a touch nostalgic as the U.S. Mint pressed its final penny after more than 230 years in circulation.

The death of the coin was not unexpected as the penny, which cost nearly 4 cents to produce, had been on life support for years and was marked for its end in April when President Donald Trump directed the Treasury Department to stop minting the coin, arguing its production was “wasteful.” 

The U.S. Mint said in its 2024 annual report that taxpayers lost $85.3 million on the nearly 3.2 billion pennies it produced last year.

Doesn’t make ‘cents’

On Thursday, Newsday asked experts in numismatics, the study of coins, paper currency and medals, to provide a penny for their thoughts [warning: more bad puns ahead] on the demise of the 1-cent coin and whether its passage should prompt celebration or distress.

Buddy Alleva, owner of Long Island Rare Coin & Currency in Massapequa, who has been a wholesaler in the numismatic industry for more than 50 years, was among those feeling sentimental.

“As a child, I collected them, and if I had 25 cents, I bought 25 pieces of bubble gum,” Alleva said. “So a penny went a long way. Now, I see kids walk over dimes and quarters. They won’t pick them up in the street.”

In recent months, as the 1-cent coin moved closer to becoming literal pennies from heaven,  Alleva said his office was flooded with calls from Long Islanders wondering what their pennies were worth.

With the exception of rare and unusual pennies, the answer is generally the same: about 1 cent.

“There will be people who will take advantage of this and tell people, ‘oh, you have to own these [coins].’ But there’s literally billions out there,” said Alleva, who is encouraging people to be wary of social media scams which oversell the value of the penny. “Everybody can own tons of pennies. They’re still out there.”

In fact, the penny is going nowhere for the time being, with an estimated 300 million still in circulation, federal officials said.

Ute Wartenberg Kagan, executive director of the Manhattan-based American Numismatic Society, said there’s a sense of sadness that the oldest and “most beautiful coin” design would slowly disappear from American society. 

“But from a more hard-nosed practical point of view. I’ve long been a proponent of the abolition of the penny because financially it just doesn’t really make sense,” said Kagan, who’d like to see the nickel, which costs nearly 14 cents to make, targeted next for extinction.

Change is inevitable

The obvious question is what will happen to consumers as small denomination coins slowly trickle out of society.

Industry experts believe it’s most likely retailers will round up their prices to the nearest nickel to avoid shortchanging shoppers paying with cash.

Over time, the change could have an impact on low-income customers although the Albany-based New York Association of Convenience Stores contends the elimination of the penny could streamline cash transactions, reducing the time spent counting and handling small change.

Changes in price structures are inevitable over time, experts note, as the absence of penny arcades, penny candy and penny stocks can attest.

John Feigenbaum, executive director of the Virginia-based Professional Numismatists Guild, said few hobbyists, dealers or rare coin collectors will shed a tear on the grave of the penny.

The Mint long ago stopped producing half-cent, 2-, 3- and 20-cent coins, he said, and few seemed to notice they were gone.

“The time has come for this particular product,” said Feigenbaum, who doubles as chief executive of Whitman Brands, a publisher of pricing values, data, and reference books for the collectibles industry. “Every coin collector probably started out with a blue folder or album, sticking pennies into one every year. It’s a weird feeling to know that we’re at the end of that game. But we’re good with change.”

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.