Donald Trump has risked the ire of the most superstitious people in the US by announcing the abolition of the penny.
The president’s decision would mean one-cent coins stop being produced by the United States Mint for the first time in more than 230 years.
In a post on his social media website Truth Social, he argued the production of pennies is ‘so wasteful’, as each of them ‘literally cost us more than 2 cents’.
Trump wrote: ‘I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.
‘Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.’
Unlike the UK, the US does not have an equivalent of a two-pence coin – meaning scrapping the smallest denomination could mean everything paid in cash will have to be divisible by five cents, the next-smallest coin.
Or they might get away with just using the pennies already in circulation.
Since 1909, the US penny has featured an image of former President Abraham Lincoln – likely making him one of the most-represented individuals in human history.
According to a story in the New York Times last year, the US has minted about half a trillion one-cent coins since it began issuing them in 1793.
There are enough of them for every star in the Milky Way, with the equivalent of around $1 billion left over.
So even if the production lines are ended, plenty of pennies will still be out there for people to pick up for good luck.
When is a penny worth more than a penny?
For Metro reporter Sarah Hooper, who is from North Carolina, the one-cent coin was a big part of childhood.
‘Find a penny, pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck.’
Finding pennies heads up is a cute tradition where many believe if you find a penny lying with the head side up, you’ll have good luck for the rest of the day.
Growing up, my grandad used to purposely put pennies down on the ground where we’d find them as kids for ‘good luck’.
It’s a sweet tradition I also do when I have spare change when I’m back home in America.
Trump’s decision has also put a spotlight on the UK Treasury’s treatment of its low-denomination coins, with a question mark hanging over the future of coppers for years.
Last year, Rachel Reeves’ officials decided not to order any new coins to be minted in a first for the Treasury.
A spokesperson said at the time: ‘We are confident there are enough coins in the system, with estimates of approximately 27 billion in circulation in the UK.’
But the move led to questions over whether 1p and 2p coins will ever be produced again, as British society grows increasingly cashless.
This morning, Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman told reporters: ‘There’s no plan to change our policy on that.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.
For more stories like this, check our news page.