For most Americans, it started as a small habit – tossing a penny into a jar at the end of the day, dropping one into a cup holder, or leaving a handful in a kitchen drawer. Over years, those little copper-colored coins quietly piled up. Now, with the U.S. officially winding down penny production, millions of people are staring at their stashes and asking the same question: what exactly do I do with these things?
The penny ceased to be minted for circulation in 2025, closing a chapter that stretched back more than two centuries. The Secretary of the Treasury suspended production of the one-cent coin after determining it was no longer necessary to meet the needs of the United States, with the decision influenced by the rising cost of producing the penny, which had increased to 3.69 cents per penny. The good news is that your saved pennies are far from worthless. Here are the most practical, smart, and even surprising things you can do with them right now.
Understand What’s Actually Happening First
The U.S. Mint projects an immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs by stopping penny production. Given the increasing number of non-cash transactions and the very low purchasing power of a single penny, the Department of the Treasury concluded that continued production was neither fiscally responsible nor necessary to meet the needs of commerce in the United States. That context matters, because it shapes how you should think about the coins already in your possession.
Crucially, the penny remains legal tender, meaning it retains its status as an acceptable form of payment. There are about 114 billion pennies currently in circulation – $1.14 billion worth – so they won’t disappear overnight. What you have in that jar is still real money, and you have more options than you might think.
Take Them to Your Bank or Credit Union
Consumers may continue to deposit pennies at their financial institutions. For larger quantities, some banks may require that coins be rolled or wrapped prior to deposit, so it is recommended that consumers consult their bank in advance to confirm specific guidelines and ensure a smooth deposit process. Rolling coins is straightforward: standard penny wrappers hold 50 coins each, making a $0.50 roll. Most office supply stores and grocery stores carry them for free or very cheaply.
According to Kimberly Palmer, a personal finance expert at NerdWallet, you can avoid fees by taking your coins directly to your own bank or credit union. This is the simplest, most fee-free route to converting your pennies into usable cash. Americans are holding onto an estimated $60 to $90 in coins per household, so the amount in your jar may be more substantial than it feels when you’re picking up pennies one at a time.
Use a Coinstar Kiosk – but Read the Fine Print
Many grocery stores offer Coinstar machines, which can count and convert your coins into gift cards or cash. Cash redemptions come with a processing fee of about 11.9%, while gift card redemptions are typically fee-free. That fee difference is significant. If you have $50 in pennies and take cash, you walk away with roughly $44. If you choose a gift card from a retailer you already shop at, you get the full $50.
There are about 17,000 Coinstar machines across the country, so finding one is rarely difficult. Coinstar also partners with Feeding America and other nonprofit organizations through its Coins that Count charity program, inviting consumers to donate directly at participating kiosks, with any amount accepted and donations being tax deductible. That gives you a third option beyond cash and gift cards: giving it away entirely.
Sort Through Them Before You Spend or Deposit Anything
This step is worth the time. The pennies worth the most money in 2026 are usually key-date Lincoln cents, major error coins, and scarce varieties – some of the best-known examples include the 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1922 No D, 1931-S, 1943 bronze cent, 1955 doubled die obverse, and 1969-S doubled die obverse. Most of what you have will be common coins worth face value, but a single rare find could be worth far more than the entire rest of your jar.
Lincoln pennies made before 1959 feature two wheat stalks on the reverse, often called wheat pennies. These are all considered obsolete, don’t turn up very often in circulation, and are all worth about 3 cents or more. Pennies minted before 1982 are 95% copper, making them worth more in raw metal than their face value. At minimum, setting aside pre-1982 coins before depositing the rest is a smart habit. A quick glance at the date takes only a second per coin.
Know Which Error Coins Can Be Worth Serious Money
Some pennies are worth genuinely astonishing sums. A copper 1943 penny is worth an average of $85,000, and some are worth much more – one 1943-D copper penny commanded a whopping $1.7 million when it sold at auction in 2010. These rare coins exist because only about 40 of the 1943 copper-alloy cents are known to remain in existence, having been struck by accident when copper-alloy blanks remained in the press hopper when production began on the new steel pennies.
Error coins extend well beyond the famous 1943 piece. Other rare pennies worth looking for include the 1955 doubled die penny at $1,000 or more, the 1969-S doubled die at $50,000 or more, and the 1983 doubled die at $150 or more. One critical rule if you suspect you have something rare: cleaning old coins can destroy their value, because buyers want original surfaces, even if they look dark or dirty. A shiny scrubbed coin may look better to you, but collectors see it as damaged. Leave the age and patina alone.
Donate Them to a Cause That Matters to You
Pennies have powered charitable campaigns for generations, and that tradition makes even more sense now that the coins are being phased out. Organizations like Pennies for Peace run campaigns that are a meaningful way for children, educators, and organizations to work together in active philanthropy to help build schools, pay for school supplies, and hire teachers in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. A jar that feels cluttered at home can fund something genuinely significant abroad.
Local giving is just as impactful. Many charities accept spare change, and even modest contributions can make a difference when combined with others. A single jar of pennies might not seem like much, but it can still support meaningful causes. Food pantries, animal shelters, and community organizations all benefit from coin drives. You can even start a change drive at a child’s school, community center, or workplace, adding a fun factor by holding a contest or dividing collection by denomination on different days.
Use Them Directly in Cash Transactions While You Still Can
There is no reason to save every penny for some future purpose when you can put them to work right now. Pennies remain legal tender. You can spend them or deposit them at your bank, and bringing in coins from home actually helps improve circulation. Using them at self-checkout lanes, paying exact change at a coffee shop, or including them in cash purchases at small businesses all turn dormant savings into real purchasing power.
Retailers should continue accepting pennies and providing penny change for cash transactions while the coin remains in circulation. When penny change is not available, businesses may round the final amount of a cash transaction to the nearest five-cent increment. Until that rounding becomes universal, your pennies spend just like any other coin. Spending them now is arguably smarter than waiting for a tipping point when fewer and fewer businesses keep them on hand.
Keep a Few as Historical Keepsakes
Choosing a few years of note – a child’s birth year, an anniversary, or the oldest penny you can find – and keeping them makes sense as a personal keepsake. The penny was one of the first coins produced by the U.S. Mint, authorized under the Coinage Act of 1792, and the last year of production, 2025, will carry its own historical weight for collectors and curious future generations alike.
With production now halted, pennies may become less common in everyday life. Keeping a small collection as a keepsake can preserve that history and offer a tangible reminder of a coin that has been in circulation for generations. You don’t need a coin album or a display case – even a small envelope labeled with the year and tucked into a memory box works perfectly. History, after all, rarely needs much shelf space.
Turn Them Into Art or Functional Household Items
If the sentimental and financial angles don’t appeal to you, there is always the creative route. Craft projects like wall art, mosaics, or jewelry made using pennies – especially those with meaningful dates – offer a personal way to repurpose the coins, as do holiday decorations like ornaments, wreaths, or photo frames. A penny mosaic table or a framed display of coins from a particular decade turns loose change into something genuinely interesting.
Pennies can be surprisingly useful beyond spending. Around the house, they can stabilize a wobbly table, act as a makeshift screwdriver, or help you check your tire tread. You can even use pennies in small home improvement tasks, like tile spacing or adding weight to curtains. These uses won’t make you rich, but they do keep perfectly good metal from sitting idle in a drawer for another decade.
A Last Thought on Small Change and Big Moments
The end of the penny is one of those quiet shifts that only feels significant in retrospect. Most people won’t miss digging through a purse for exact change, and few will mourn a transaction that rounds up or down by a cent or two. Yet the coins already in your home represent something real – a habit, a history, and in some cases, a small piece of American monetary heritage worth holding onto.
The smartest move is a simple one: take ten minutes to sort through what you have before you do anything else. Set aside anything older, anything that looks unusual, and a handful of favorites for memory’s sake. Then deposit the rest, spend them freely, or give them away. Whatever you choose, the worst option is leaving them to gather dust in a jar. The penny had a long run – it deserves a better ending than that.
