“I'm not a girl, not yet a woman.” –Britney Spears
We didn’t learn the lesson.
The pandemic-era coin shortage triggered turbulence for retailers, consumers, and financial institutions across the country. With consumers sheltering at home, coins stayed piled up in jars and buried in sofa cushions instead of shimmying through the system. That led to odd outcomes: an aquarium drained a fountain to collect its coins, laundromats were depleted of quarters, and financial institutions couldn't supply business customers with the coins they needed.
Now the story is repeating itself, but this time with a painful conclusion: the death of the penny. On Nov. 12, 2025, the United States minted its final penny in Philadelphia without putting something in place — a plan.
The ripple effects arrived faster than many in the industry expected. By mid-November, the Federal Reserve’s coin distribution sites stopped handling pennies at more than half of its locations, causing all kinds of unnecessary tension. Banks and the retailers they serve found themselves unable to meet customer demand for one-cent coins, despite the billions of pennies out there — 300 billion by the U.S. Mint’s count and 114 billion by the Treasury’s.
Either way, there are far more pennies than people in the world. Jill Castilla, chairman, president, and CEO of Citizens Bank of Edmond and Roger, called out the problem early on LinkedIn: “This accelerates a de facto elimination of the penny regardless of its legal-tender status. Small businesses deserve a longer, more deliberate transition.”
In January, the Fed changed its mind and began accepting pennies again at all its coin distribution centers. While that move will likely help out, it didn't undo the damage caused by a policy decision that lacked foresight.
Sure, the math behind eliminating the penny makes sense: Producing one costs more than three times its value. People don’t really care about pennies, nor do they spend them. It’s a snoozefest to topics like stablecoins or “The Real Housewives.” But the abrupt end of a coin without guidelines in place is silly, especially when cash remains meaningful. Fed research shows that, as of 2024, Americans made about seven cash transactions each month. A November article in The Atlantic places the predicament into a group of “predictable fiascoes.”
The problem is not the penny’s demise but the consequences of killing the coin without a transition strategy. It’s like closing a popular highway without offering an alternative route. To be sure, on Dec. 23, the U.S. Treasury Department published some guidance, including a specific shoutout to banks: “Consumers may continue to deposit pennies at their financial institutions.”
The delayed guidance pales in comparison to what other countries like Canada did. In the U.S., banks are still left to navigate unsolved mysteries.
Payment confusion is one of them. If a business can’t return the exact change, does it round up to the nearest nickel? Round down? Either choice risks violating state laws requiring consistent pricing, and the headline risks are about as favorable as a ceiling leak in the bedroom. Instacart already caught heat for charging different customers different prices for the same groceries, and it subsequently changed its AI test pricing policy. Imagine that kind of debate applied to every store accepting cash in certain states. Likewise, institutions must also decide what to do when consumers cash checks that include pennies. For customers, banks can deposit pennies in digital accounts. For non-customers, options are limited.
Communicating the issue is another burden. Financial institutions must now explain why they can’t supply pennies. Some have already stepped up. Members First Credit Union in Michigan did so with its “Penny Farewell Tour” page, giving members a clear explanation of what and why. Citizens Bank published a blog on the topic. My local grocery store in Los Angeles taped this sign to the checkout: “We are actively looking for pennies! If you have any to spare, we’ll buy them at face value.”
This scenario illustrates an industry lingering in its awkward teenage years where the voice is cracking, unable to decide which tone to embrace. Cash is fading. Digital payments, stablecoins, and new bank charters are rising. And yet, a meaningful share of consumers pay with cash at businesses that require coins. Banks are caught in the middle.
It’s not hard to imagine similar complications emerging soon, with checks, with nickels, with any legacy payment rail that is not quite dead yet.
Meanwhile, some of the most popular digital-first brands are figuring out ways to help customers tackle their cash logistics. Robinhood delivers cash to customers in certain markets. Chime lets customers load cash at retailers.
In this awkward in-between payment stage, banks can't fix federal policy. But here’s what they can do:
The penny may be gone. But the penny problems are far from over.
Mary Wisniewski is an editor-at-large at Cornerstone Advisors. Tune in to her Money Isn’t Everything podcast and follow her on LinkedIn.