We gather here today in loving memory of our dear friend and humble coin, the U.S. penny.
Whether hidden in couch cushions, tucked inside childhood piggy banks or stuck in the crevices of car seats, the penny was always there. Finding a lucky penny on the sidewalk during a bad day would lift your spirits and turn the day around. When you tossed a coin into a fountain and made a wish, the penny always made your dreams come true, and when an elderly lady called you “pretty as a penny,” you smiled and tucked the compliment away.
With its copper-plated zinc shine and the presence of Abraham Lincoln, the penny lived a life of quiet joy and service. Small in value at just a cent but rich in meaning, it served as a lasting symbol of American currency and childhood nostalgia.
In Feb. 2025, President Trump ordered the U.S. Treasury Department to stop making pennies, calling it a “wasteful” expense on Truth Social. The federal government spends roughly $56 million per year producing the copper coin, according to the Treasury Department. On Nov. 12, 2025, the last penny was minted in a Philadelphia facility, ending its 232-year production run. Now, approximately 300 billion pennies remain in circulation, but many are hidden in our couches or buried deep in our wallets.
As we say farewell to the penny, let us remember the long and meaningful life our beloved coin lived. First commissioned under the Mint Act of 1792 and signed by George Washington, the original penny featured the Liberty with long flowing hair and was nearly 50 percent larger than its modern counterpart. Over the centuries, the penny evolved with American history and included various designs of Liberty, symbols of slavery, the American Indian Head cent and eventually the iconic old Abe penny we know today.
Beyond its historical significance, the penny leaves behind a much greater and often invisible legacy within U.S. currency. Have you ever wondered why TV commercials advertise products at $9.99? Retailers price items just below a full dollar so that consumers’ brains focus on the left digits and believe the item costs less than it actually does. The penny allows businesses to charge prices precisely and adjust them in smaller increments.
With the demise of the penny, consumers can no longer pay exactly 99 cents and retailers are now shifting prices to the nearest five cents or rounding to the full dollar. As a result, price increases and inflation will become more noticeable to consumers. Even as many shoppers use digital payment methods, the penny’s retirement also takes with it the 99-cent psychological price trick. You too, .99, will always be remembered.
More than anything, however, the penny is remembered for its indulgence in the simple pleasures of life. Small purchases, such as purchasing a sweet candy or riding the grocery store merry-go-round, were accessible because of the penny. Tossing spare change in tip jars or charity boxes made generosity accessible for everyone.
This is what truly coined the penny — no pun intended — the thrifty and charitable coin.
Rather than easily spending the nickel or dime, using pennies required creativity — especially in this economy. That might mean setting aside a family coin jar for a future vacation, dropping extra pennies in the donation box or even making cold compresses from a sock filled with pennies. Used in so many ways, this is what made the penny unique from all other coins.
However, for all of the criticism the penny received about being worthless or wasteful, its value beyond nostalgia has risen. After the final U.S. cents — 232 sets of three pennies — were minted, the U.S. Mint auctioned them for $16.76 million. Coins once worth just a cent are now worth thousands to millions of dollars. The irony is laughable.
Although the penny’s demise is upsetting, with some even holding a funeral service for the beloved coin in Washington D.C., its time was coming. In 2013, former President Obama said he was open to retiring the penny, noting that “anytime we’re spending money on something people don’t actually use, that’s an example of things we should probably change.”
Additionally, inflation has made buying and selling products with pennies increasingly impossible. Nowadays, you need at least five dollars to buy a soda or a snack. This reality ultimately led to the termination of the penny.
In the end, the penny lives on — not just in our couches or piggy banks, but in our thoughts and memories. In its own quiet way, the penny represents the simple joys it once made possible: small treats, wishes and acts of kindness that added up to a legacy far greater than its value. It taught us to appreciate the smallest things in life and will be remembered as a humble yet memorable coin.
Rest in peace, U.S. penny.
