Coinstar converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58 in buying power. Most of us don’t realize how much our coins are worth. Thus, a trip to a coin-exchange kiosk (or a bank,

The U.S. last week unveiled its plan to finally phase out the lowly penny. The Treasury Department has placed its last order for the coins, which will no longer be minted, though they will continue to be legal tender[17].

While there will still be over a billion pennies in circulation, no new cents will be joining their ranks for the first time in more than two centuries.

Per the latest U.S. Mint report, it costs less than six cents to make a dime ($0.0576). To make a quarter, it costs about 15 cents ($0.1468), and nearly 34 cents for a half-dollar ($0.3397).

The federal government made its final order of penny blanks this month — the first step to end the production of the 1-cent coin, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department confirmed to USA TODAY.

The penny coin is getting phased out, a cost-cutting move that could ripple through consumer behavior, retailers' pricing strategies and cash transactions. Why it matters: It'll be harder to make sense out of cents and get exact change after the one-cent coin's upcoming demise.

The U.S. Mint took top honors in "Best Circulating Coin" at the 2025 Mint Directors Conference for the work on the Jovita Idár issue in the American Women quarter dollar series.