Stores face coin crunch after end of penny production
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The U.S. Mint has stopped making pennies and the fallout is already hitting cash registers, as stores run short on change.
Why it matters: Roughly 250 billion pennies are still out there — though the American Bankers Association says the issue isn't supply, but circulation, with many coins collecting dust in jars.
Driving the news: The Federal Reserve has started rationing pennies to banks as supplies vanish faster than expected.
- More than half of the Fed's 170 coin distribution terminals have stopped or are about to stop handling pennies — 83 have already suspended orders, and 12 more will follow Monday, Nov. 3, per the Fed's website.
- The Treasury didn't immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Flashback: President Trump ordered the Treasury to stop making new pennies in February, calling the coin's demise a way to "rip the waste out of the budget."
- The U.S. Mint had planned to finish production in early 2026, but it ran through its final batch of penny blanks over the summer, ending the coin's 232-year run months ahead of schedule.
By the numbers: The penny cost 3.7 cents to make last year, according to the Mint. Ending production will save the Treasury about $56 million annually.
Penny shortage creates challenges around SNAP
State of play: Retailers say the shortage is creating a tangle of operational, legal and compliance challenges — especially around SNAP transactions, which require exact pricing.
- Under federal law, SNAP customers must be charged the same prices as all other shoppers, making rounding up or down legally tricky.
- In a recent letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, trade groups urged federal agencies to confirm that rounding cash transactions to the nearest nickel won't violate SNAP's "equal treatment" rules.
- Ten states also ban rounding to the nearest nickel, trade groups warn, making a solution that much more difficult.
What they're saying: "With the U.S. Mint ceasing minting of the penny in June, grocery stores across the nation are experiencing an inability to provide exact change to cash-paying customers," Christine Pollack, vice president of government relations at the Food Industry Association (FMI), told Axios.
- Pollack said FMI is urging the Treasury and USDA to act swiftly, warning that rounding differences between SNAP and cash customers could "expose retailers to litigation and potential violation of the SNAP equal treatment provisions."
Penny coin collections and exact change
Zoom in: Some retailers are taking matters into their own hands.
- Giant Eagle is holding a "Penny Exchange Day" Nov. 1, giving shoppers double-value gift cards for turning in up to $100 in pennies.
- Kroger and Home Depot stores in parts of the Midwest are asking shoppers to pay with exact change, while Kwik Trip and Love's are rounding cash totals in customers' favor, USA TODAY reports.
- Sheetz is encouraging mobile payments and asking customers to round up their purchases for charity, according to Scripps News.
The bottom line: "We don't want the penny back," Jeff Lenard with the National Association of Convenience Stores told the Associated Press. "We just want clarity from the federal government on what to do."
