What has been around since 1793, was designed by Benjamin Franklin, and costs three times as much to make as it is worth?

The penny! In fact, the penny was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792. Back then, the one-cent coin was larger and made of pure copper.

Benjamin Franklin reportedly designed the first American penny. However, his design was different than what the mint produced for the first time in 1793, which was a design featuring a woman with flowing hair that symbolized liberty.

In 1857, the penny was made smaller, and it was changed to a combination of 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel. There were several design changes during the 1800s before the introduction of the Lincoln penny in 1909. This marked the first time a president was featured on one of our coins, and it was done to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s 100th birthday.

Today’s pennies still feature our sixteenth president but are composed of just 2.5 percent copper. It also costs more than three cents to produce each penny. Congress has previously proposed legislation to stop making the penny or to produce the coins from cheaper materials, but these proposed changes have not passed.

In February, President Trump issued an order to stop minting the penny. However, the U.S. Mint said that Congress is responsible for authorizing the manufacture of our coins, so it is unclear what authority Trump has to end the penny’s production.

In theory, getting rid of the penny makes sense. The U.S. Mint reported losing $85.3 million on more than three billion pennies produced in 2024. However, there are POTENTIAL challenges to doing away with the one cent piece.

Even if we stopped making pennies, they would remain legal to use and people would still need them as change. It is possible that prices could be rounded to the nearest nickel. Even if that were to happen, some experts predict this could drive up pricing on some items.