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(NEXSTAR) – The U.S. is inching closer to ditching its penny and potentially replacing its nickel following the Senate’s passing of the “Common Cents Act” this weekend.
The Senate passed the bill, a version of which already passed the House, with unanimous consent on Friday.
Broadly speaking, it tackles three aspects of our currency.
The Common Cents Act formally calls for the end of penny production. If you’ve been following the drawn-out death of the penny, you know the U.S. minted its final one-cent coin for circulation last year (collectible pennies for America’s 250th anniversary were released earlier this year).
They remain legal tender, even if retailers have none to give you as change when you pay with cash, and the Federal Reserve would have to limit “disruptions in penny supply.”
The bill would also address some of the difficulties of paying with cash that have materialized since the end of penny production. Under the Common Cents Act, businesses would be allowed the option to round cash transactions to the nearest nickel. A $19.82 purchase becomes $19.80 while $19.83 becomes $19.85, for example.
As simple as it sounds, some states and localities have laws prohibiting the practice. Advocates believe the Common Cents Act could iron out that confusion.
Pennies would remain legal tender under the bill as well. It’s estimated that more than 300 billion pennies are out in the world – more than 800 pennies, or $8 worth, per U.S. citizen – trapped wherever a little Lincoln can hide.
The penny isn’t the only focus of the legislation. The nickel could also change if the Common Cents Act becomes law.
The nickel, like the penny, is expensive to produce. It cost 13.31 cents to produce a single nickel in fiscal year 2025, down slightly from 13.78 cents in fiscal year 2024. Last year marked 20 consecutive years that nickel production costs remained above the coin’s face value.
Nickels, which contain hardly any nickel at all, are about 75% copper. The high cost of copper was blamed in part for the increased cost of producing a penny, which is just 2.5% copper.
The Common Cents Act gives the Treasury the power to test a cheaper alternative recipe for making the five-cent coin.
Both versions of the bill call for a “composition of zinc and nickel” for the coin, “subject to testing and evaluation” that shows it cuts cost and “has a minimal adverse impact on machines designed to accept coins.”
Only the penny and the $1 coin currently use zinc, which was nearly $7,000 per metric ton cheaper than copper last year, the Mint reports.
Changing a coin’s composition can be difficult, with attempts to improve the penny failing. Steel was considered the cheapest metal option available, but it would have still cost more than a penny to produce a single one-cent coin. Plastics and polymers wouldn’t work either, since counting machines are looking for metal.
For now, the nickel isn’t changing and remains legal tender. A bill to kill it remains in committee in the House.
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