US penny production has ended, but pennies remain legal tender. For a collector, the milestone concerns the coins being made; for a shopper, the practical question is how to pay and receive change. Keeping those questions separate makes the transition easier to understand. There is no reason to treat a production announcement as an instruction to discard the cents you already have.

Why Production Stopped

The Treasury Department's December 23, 2025 penny FAQs describe the cost problem: over the preceding ten years, total production cost rose from 1.3 cents to 3.69 cents for each penny. That total includes materials, facilities, and overhead. Treasury also points to increasing non-cash transactions and the penny's low purchasing power in explaining why continued production was no longer considered necessary for commerce.

The US Mint projects immediate annual savings of $56 million in material costs from stopping production. Notice what that figure measures: material savings. The 3.69-cent figure describes total production cost. Keeping those measures separate avoids confusing the cost of making one coin with a particular category of annual savings.

The Last Circulating Cent

CNN's November 12, 2025 report places the final circulating penny striking at the US Mint in Philadelphia that Wednesday afternoon. The report also gives Treasury's estimate of about 300 billion pennies in circulation, adding that most are severely underutilized. The end of production therefore has to be understood alongside a substantial existing supply.

For a collector reading the news, the production date is a reference point. Keep it distinct from the questions you ask about a coin already in your collection. The announcement tells you when circulating production ended; examining a particular coin is a separate task. Avoid making the headline do more work than the evidence supports.

Pennies Are Still Legal Tender

Treasury says pennies retain their nominal value indefinitely. Its guidance asks retailers to continue accepting pennies and giving penny change for cash transactions while the coin remains in circulation. It also describes consumers using pennies at businesses that choose to accept them. This guidance should not be turned into a claim that every shop must accept every payment offered.

Businesses may still deposit pennies at financial institutions. For shoppers, the useful distinction is between the coin's continuing monetary status and the change available for an individual transaction. When you are paying cash, establish how the final amount will be handled before completing the payment, especially if penny change is unavailable.

How Cash Rounding Works

When penny change is unavailable, Treasury says businesses may round the final cash transaction amount to the nearest five cents, recognizing that states may approach the issue differently. Its FAQs quote NCSL's November 21, 2025 report, Elimination of the Penny: Cents-able Considerations, which describes symmetrical rounding of the total transaction amount, including taxes:

  • A final digit of 1, 2, 6, or 7 rounds down to the nearest multiple of five cents.
  • A final digit of 3, 4, 8, or 9 rounds up to the nearest multiple of five cents.
  • A total already ending in 0 or 5 needs no rounding to reach a five-cent increment.

Apply the rounding to the final total, rather than rounding each item separately. For illustration, under that method a $12.42 cash total becomes $12.40, while $12.43 becomes $12.45. These are worked examples of the method, not a statement about a particular store's policy. The quoted NCSL discussion also notes that transactions totaling exactly $0.01 or $0.02 might instead be rounded up to $0.05.

Non-cash payments stay at the exact cent. The guidance excludes electronic methods, checks, gift cards, and other non-cash instruments from rounding. A $12.43 total paid by credit or debit card therefore remains $12.43. Before comparing a cash receipt with a card receipt, identify the payment method and the final total being compared.

Tax calculation is a separate consideration. Treasury says most states require sales tax to be calculated on the final sale price rounded to the nearest penny, and decisions about changing tax laws belong to state and local jurisdictions. Treat the NCSL method as an explanation quoted in Treasury's guidance, rather than assuming it establishes one identical checkout rule everywhere.

What It Means for Collectors

Pennies already in circulation remain a starting point for a collection. Choose a modest research question before searching: which dates do you want to organize, which details do you want to compare, and what would you like to learn from the coins you already have? Keep a simple record of your observations and leave room for uncertainty when a feature needs closer examination.

For handling and storage, follow the coin cleaning and preservation guide before attempting to improve a coin's appearance. For a feature that looks unusual, use the mint errors guide to frame the next comparison. Keep observations separate from guesses about price, and let the collecting project develop around what you can examine and understand.