By Alan Suderman, Related Press Enterprise Author
RICHMOND, Va. — The lowly penny, the forgotten mainstay of coin jars and automobile cupholders in all places, could quickly be no extra.
President Donald Trump introduced Sunday he’s ordered his administration to stop manufacturing of the 1-cent coin, whose shopping for energy is gone its prime.
Advocates for ditching the penny cite its excessive manufacturing price — at the moment virtually 4 cents per penny, in response to the U.S. Mint — and restricted utility. Followers of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative discount in manufacturing prices in contrast with the nickel, which prices virtually 14 cents to mint.
Trump’s shock order comes after a long time of unsuccessful efforts to pitch the penny.
“Solely custom explains our cussed attachment to the penny. However typically traditions get ridiculous,” the Farmers’ Almanac stated in its 1989 version.
Right here’s a have a look at some questions surrounding Trump’s order.
Can Trump actually order the Treasury to cease minting pennies with out Congress’ approval?
Sure, in response to authorized scholar Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb College Professor of Constitutional Regulation Emeritus at Harvard College.
U.S. code provides the Treasury Secretary the authority to mint and subject cash “in quantities the secretary decides are needed to satisfy the wants of the US.”
If Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent decides the quantity needed for the penny is zero, he’s inside his authorized rights, Tribe stated.
“In contrast to numerous what the brand new administration has been doing pursuant to the flood of government orders since Jan. 20, this motion appears to me solely lawful and totally constitutional,” Tribe stated, referring to the aggressive government motion Trump’s taken on different points since taking workplace.
Congress, which dictates forex specs like the scale and metallic content material of cash, might make Trump’s order everlasting by means of regulation. However previous congressional efforts to ditch the penny have failed.
Pennies are largely product of zinc, and the American zinc foyer has been a significant opponent to solutions that the penny be eradicated.
What number of pennies are in circulation?
Pennies are the most well-liked coin made by the U.S. Mint, which reported making 3.2 billion of them final yr at mints in Denver and Philadelphia. That’s greater than half of all the brand new cash it made final yr.
MIT professor Jeff Gore, who based Residents to Retire the Penny, stated cash are supposed to remain in circulation for about 30 years and that within the final three a long time the U.S. Mint has made about 250 billion pennies.
However, he says, “as a result of no one desires to make use of pennies, they fall out of energetic circulation a lot sooner than different cash.”
If pennies sit in drawer for a decade, Gore asks, “Does that qualify as being in circulation?”
Will Individuals miss pennies?
The expertise in different international locations suggests no.
Canada began phasing out its penny a dozen years in the past and urged retailer homeowners to spherical costs to the closest nickel for money transactions. Digital purchases have been nonetheless billed to the closest cent. The transfer got here after New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, and others dropped their lowest-denomination cash.
After dropping the penny or its equal, these international locations haven’t seemed again.
What comes subsequent?
Trump’s order, which he introduced in a social media put up as he was departing New Orleans after watching the primary half of the Tremendous Bowl, was the newest in his administration’s rapid-fire efforts to chop authorities prices.
“Let’s rip the waste out of our nice nation’s price range, even when it’s a penny at a time,” Trump wrote in his put up, which was gentle on particulars about plans for a post-penny future.
After Canada stopped minting new pennies, it started recycling them for his or her “invaluable” copper and zinc, in response to a 2022 report from the Canadian Mint.
