"She found an old pressed penny from the Cincinnati Museum Center among her things, which led her to drive two hours to the museum, both to see a Barbie exhibit and to check out the machine-but it was nowhere to be found. An attendant told her they'd gotten rid of it last year, a result of the cost of maintenance compared to the money they actually make from the pennies, not to mention the imminent end of penny minting."
"In May, Donald Trump announced that in 2026, the U.S. Mint will cease production of the penny, one of which costs 3.69 cents to make. What will come of the good old-fashioned American vacation practice of pancaking our smallest monetary denomination? The machines have become a mainstay in tourist locations such as zoos, museums, theme parks, and historical attractions, and the coins usually feature designs of things you can see at the sites (the facades of buildings, zoo animals, roller coasters, spaceships, artworks-the options are endless)."
Carissa Gooding, a pressed-penny collector in Columbus, Ohio, cleans souvenir pennies on TikTok and experienced a 'penny mental breakdown' after finding an old Cincinnati Museum Center penny. She drove two hours to see the machine and discovered it had been removed due to maintenance costs and the imminent end of penny minting. In May, Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Mint will cease penny production in 2026; each penny costs 3.69 cents to produce. Penny-press machines are common at zoos, museums, theme parks, and historical attractions and feature site-specific designs. Pressed pennies date back to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, and collecting may be affected by changes to coin production and machine availability.
Read at Slate Magazine
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