Could Trump get rid of the penny?
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The cost of zinc — the primary metal used in penny-making — has doubled since 2016. On Tuesday, DOGE shared a message noting that the US spends approximately 3 cents to mint every penny. Pennies are only worth one cent. Questioning the continued use of the penny is not new, nor is the reality that making one is more expensive than its actual value. Back in 2016, the US spent approximately 1.5 cents for each penny minted, and a year prior then-Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew pushed to drop the coin altogether.
Proponents of getting rid of the penny have suggested just using rounding to deal with any transaction that calls for a penny, but a 2020 blog post from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond pointed out that rounding can significantly change the value of an item, especially when the item is inexpensive.
The penny isn't the only coin that costs more to make than its value; the US Mint's 2024 report found that every nickel produced costs about 14 cents to make. It remains to be seen if DOGE will go after Thomas Jefferson after it deals with Abraham Lincoln.
Musk has said that DOGE will slice $500 billion in annual federal spending, but hitting that number will take slashing way more than penny production. According to Trump, DOGE will "slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies," although critics have claimed this means he hopes to free up money by doing less, with fewer rules and fewer people.
For example; Trump spoke to Fox News' Sean Hannity on Wednesday night for his first post-inauguration interview. Early in their chat, Trump said he was going to "look at" the Federal Emergency Management Agency and expressed his belief that the states should be left to deal with their own problems.
