The penny circulated our pockets for two centuries, and still there are 250 billion of them escaping from cash registers to our hands. Pennies will continue to be taken as currency, even if new ones will no longer be made.
The U.S. Mint pressed its last penny on Nov. 12, 2025. After 232 years, the penny will no longer be pressed and will now be uselessly pressed into our pockets and American culture forever.
Abraham Lincoln’s face on the copper coin, added to commemorate what would have been his 100th birthday, symbolized the American Dream and hope for this nation. Hard work and humble origins were common themes in society during its first production in 1793, though the penny had outgrown its monetary existence to become a cultural artifact.
Think about all the copper you’ve thrown into a fountain with Lincoln’s face looking back at you as you made a wish. The penny has long signified luck: “If you see a penny pick it up, all day long you have good luck,” was a common phrase my mom would say as she stopped in the middle of the grocery store parking lot to pick up change.
The penny’s death gives me a sense of nostalgia about money and inflation in the United States. I remember trips to the local college theater with my grandmother, and how we would stop at Dollar Tree beforehand to pick up a box of candy for a dollar each. She would scrounge around in her beige purse for cash, claiming she was trying to “get rid of her change.”
As I started to make my own money, I learned the significance of my grandmother’s words. Carrying change around is heavy and weighs my wallet down quite a bit, making it harder to haul around everywhere. I have completely forgotten wallets, and after cashing in all of my bills and coins to the bank, I now only carry a cardholder. The scrappy penny is a symbol of physical money’s slow fade into obscurity.
Although, in middle school, I thought just the opposite. Before getting a debit card—which was a huge deal back then—my friends would get dollar bills from their parents and after buying something, they wouldn’t want to carry any change. I would voluntarily take it, save it up, and bring it to the bank later to get cash. I can’t help but feel a longing for growing up in middle-class America—how every cent counted, and how my parents bought a $500 Vitamix blender using the jar of coins they kept in the kitchen.
A recent survey shows more than half of Generation Z use cash as a last resort, stating “cash is cringe, according to Gen Z.” But more than half also tend to spend without thinking when tapping their card.
Now the penny is lost in our couch cushions, but still circulating the states and our hearts. Society will continue to grow and mourn the copper beauty anytime it slides across a checkout counter. The penny hasn’t lost value, but has just been lost in an evolving country.
