The loss of the penny will leave a hole in more than American companies’ cash registers.

BY BILL SAPORITO, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, INC. @BILSAP

Photo: Getty Images

As a cost-saving measure, President Trump has ordered the U.S. Mint to stop producing pennies, because they cost about four cents to manufacture. Without pennies, we can save $85 million annually that he can now waste flying Air Force One to his golf resorts. 

But as has been the case with all of Trump’s—and DOGE’s—cost-cutting, there will be unplanned repercussions. There’s the company that makes the penny blanks, which are pieces of zinc that are then coated in copper. That company, Artazn, formally known as Jarden Zinc Products, is a 50-year-old business located in Tusculum, Tennessee. Artazn, which was bought by the private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners in 2019, produces other products too, so it’s not totally reliant on government contracts. But that’s a big slug of business to lose, so expect some layoffs in Trump country. And not just at Artazn, but among its vendors too. Going from billions of pennies a year to zero changes things.   

You might well ask, why on earth are we using........

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