WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been ordered to cease production of the one-cent coin known as the penny, President Donald Trump said in a posting on his Truth Social media account on Sunday.

“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,” Trump wrote. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” he added.

The penny was first issued by the government in 1793. Since 1909, the profile of President Abraham Lincoln has adorned the obverse side of the coin that is made of zinc and copper. A debate has been rumbling for years over whether the penny should be dropped from the line-up of American currency. “Let’s Drop Pennies, and Nickels Too While We’re At It,” argued a 2013 commentary by economist Henry Aaron writing for the left-leaning Brookings Institution publication.

“Life would be simpler without this monetary detritus,” he wrote.

Supporters of the penny have argued that it helps keep consumer prices lower and is a source of income to charities. For many Americans, however, the coin has become a nuisance that ends up being discarded in drawers, ash trays and piggy banks.

If the penny were to be scrapped, one idea would be to simply make the last digit of all prices a zero.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2025