AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Today the U.S. Mint ended production of the penny due to cost-cutting efforts and the growing irrelevance of the coin.

The U.S. penny has been in production since 1793.

In 1982, the U.S. Mint began making pennies out of zinc and no longer used copper due to its elevated price, making zinc more cost-effective.

Tyler De Los Santos, owner of Amarillo Coin Exchange, believes other coins may suffer the same fate as the U.S. penny.

“It does cost more to print the penny as well as the nickel. So, they’re phasing out, they might do the nickel soon as well. That is kind of more needed, more than just the penny because you can just round. Not many people complain about a penny there, a penny here,” said De Los Santos.

De Los Santos says while production of the penny has

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