US mints last penny after Donald Trump killed the coin

Keep knowledgeable with free updatesSimply signal as much as the Currencies myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.The US has formally ended manufacturing of the one-cent coin as digitisation and rising prices undercut the case for the penny after 230 years. The final coin was printed on the US Mint in Philadelphia on Wednesday following the US Treasury’s resolution to section out the denomination, whose manufacturing prices have risen to nearly 4 instances its worth.US treasurer Brandon Seashore, talking on the Mint, stated: “Given the speedy modernisation of the American pockets, the Division of the Treasury and President [Donald] Trump now not imagine the continued manufacturing of the penny is fiscally accountable or obligatory to satisfy the calls for of the American public.”The phaseout of the coin, which has been in circulation since 1793, comes because the shift to digital cost techniques makes its use by buyers and retailers more and more uncommon. Its manufacturing prices have risen from 1.42 cents to three.39 cents over the previous decade.The US Mint estimates halting manufacturing of the denomination will save $56mn a yr in materials prices. The penny accounted for 57 per cent of cash the Mint positioned into circulation within the final fiscal yr. US retailers have begun rounding up from pennies to nickels when returning change to prospects who pay with money. However the retail business has warned of operational issues from the penny’s speedy disappearance, reminiscent of in cashing financial institution cheques introduced on the checkout line.Pennies nonetheless in circulation will proceed to operate as an accepted type of cost in shops, even after new manufacturing has been halted.“Though in the present day we are saying goodbye to the continued manufacturing of our copper one-cent coin, let me be crystal clear: the penny stays authorized tender,” Seashore stated. “We’ve over 300bn pennies that stay in circulation and we encourage you to make use of them.”Trump has referred to as manufacturing of the penny “so wasteful” and directed US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent to wind down output earlier this yr. The Treasury stopped ordering the coin in Might and the Mint ended large-scale manufacturing in June.The ultimate batch of 5 one-cent cash printed on Wednesday is not going to enter circulation however shall be auctioned off by the Mint.Extra reporting by Gregory Meyer in New York