September 24, 2025—In May of 2025, the U.S. Treasury announced its plans to end production of the penny when the supply of blank coins runs out in early 2026. The waning popularity of cash and coins in the age of digital payments is a significant factor in the decision. While the penny has been in production for more than 200 years, the cost of minting the one-cent coin has increasingly exceeded its value and pennies are now rarely used.
It is estimated that there are 114 billion pennies currently in circulation, and they will remain legal tender even after new production ends. Once a Federal Reserve coin distribution location depletes its penny inventory, it will no longer fulfill requests from financial institutions. Deposit locations are expected to vary as the coins come out of circulation. During this transition period, some coin distribution locations may temporarily or permanently refuse penny deposits, redirecting them to an alternate location still accepting the coins.
While estimates vary on how long it will take for the U.S. penny to go out of circulation fully, we can look at examples of the elimination of the lowest denomination of coin in other countries. In Canada, while distribution of the Canadian penny ended in 2013, the Royal Canadian Mint estimates there are tens of billions still in circulation. And, while they remain legal tender, their practical value has diminished as businesses are no longer required to accept the one-cent coin and cash transactions are now rounded to the nearest five cents. In the U.S., proposed legislation also established rounding rules for cash transactions, reaffirms existing pennies as legal tender, and directs the U.S. Mint to alter the composition of other coins to lower their production costs.
While the penny is certainly not the most popular coin denomination ordered by EasCorp’s Coin and Currency Service users, on average, there are still over 100 orders placed for pennies on a monthly basis. As EasCorp learns of additional updates with penny distributions and deposits, we will notify our Coin and Currency Service users of this news.