It's a Load of Hooey
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (111771)
United States
December 28, 2025 9:21am CST
All of a sudden I am encountering signs everywhere I go telling me that there is a nationwide penny shortage, and businesses are already rounding or want exact change.
Let me be very clear here: there is NO penny shortage whatsoever!
The government has not only SAID there's no shortage, they have also ENCOURAGED people to use their pennies. And how many are actually in circulation?
300 BILLION according to the U.S. Mint.
In 2025, up to November 12th, the last day pennies were produced, the Mint produced one billion new pennies. Before that they were producing between 5 and 7 billion new pennies each year.
Pennies stopped being produced. They did not simply vanish after November 12th into thin air. We have enough pennies in current circulation to last UNTIL 2085.
So, why the signs? Why the lie? Even when the Mint and the government has said, "PLEASE continue to use them?"
Is it businesses simply trying to send a message? Maybe they don't like Trump and this a way to make things hurt? What's the lie about? Getting a few more pennies from consumers when they round up? Not only that, but if the government doesn't step in and say, "Hey, there's no shortage, stop this," we have an even bigger problem on our hands.
Nickels.
If we stopped producing pennies to save roughly 3 cents for every one made, it costs 13.8 cents to make a nickel, and if businesses are making pennies falsely scarce, we're going to need MANY more nickels to pick up the slack...
And then the whole idea behind stopping making the penny to save money is for nothing.
It's a lie, plain and simple. There is NO penny shortage to speak of.
11 people like this
8 responses
@lovebuglena (48448)
• Staten Island, New York
9h
If there’s no shortage of pennies then why do banks and businesses not have enough pennies to go around?
I went to Atlantic City and I cashed out my slot tickets at a machine instead of the cashier. The machine doesn’t give coins of any denomination. When you have cent amounts left they ask if you want to donate that to charity. 
My answer is always no. I wanna keep that money for myself. The machine ends up printing a ticket with the cent amount in it. I either have to insert it into the slots to play or go to cashier to get my coins.
My answer is always no. I wanna keep that money for myself. The machine ends up printing a ticket with the cent amount in it. I either have to insert it into the slots to play or go to cashier to get my coins.2 people like this
@lovebuglena (48448)
• Staten Island, New York
8h
@porwest I doubt many go back to cashier to change tickets to coins. They probably either play with it or leave it lying around.
1 person likes this
@porwest (111771)
• United States
8h
@lovebuglena Those would be idiots and another reason so many people are broke. I will go to the cashier for 3 cents, and I am NOT joking. lol
There's another little piece here most people do not understand that is rather important to. Casinos are required by law to have a specific payout ratio. Whether they physically pay the money out or simply SHOW that they did does not matter. So every penny someone leaves behind actually means less will be WON.
1 person likes this
@porwest (111771)
• United States
9h
They DO have enough pennies to go around. There is NO shortage. There are 300 billion pennies currently in circulation as we speak.
As for casinos, many do this. They don't give you the change. They give you a slip you have to take to the cashier if you want the loose change. Or, yes, donate it.
Back to the penny shortage, the banks and businesses are simply lying. Again, there is NO penny shortage to speak of.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (81319)
• United States
14h
That’s such nonsense. It’s like a Honda Fit: they aren’t making new ones, but you can still buy one! I wonder how long it’d take to truly deplete the penny supply…which, of course, is part of the reason they stopped making them.
2 people like this
@porwest (111771)
• United States
13h
Well, take the figure I presented in my post. According to the U.S. Mint, even with attrition accounted for, which is roughly 8%, there are approximately 300 billion pennies in current circulation. If we considered there are somewhere around 350 million people in the United States, that would mean that as a median each American MIGHT have somewhere around 857 pennies lying around somewhere.
I have a jar full of them, and there might be something like 3000 or more in there for all I know.
Either way, if we only considered the production numbers alone, 300 billion is equivalent to 60 years of annual penny production. There are, then 60 year's worth of pennies SOMEWHERE right now as we speak.
So...where's the shortage? How can you have 300 billion of something and say you don't have any?
That's $3 billion in pennies for crying out loud!
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (81319)
• United States
6h
@porwest -- follow the money. I wonder what the point of claiming there's a penny shortage is. The only thing I can think of is making money. If Dollar General (where I saw one of those signs) claims they don't have pennies, will they charge you 3-4 cents MORE for something, OR to get you to use your credit card, where a lot of places are now passing on a "3% credit card charge" (while the actual credit card fee for the merchant can be as low as 1.5%!).
Please forgive me for being so jaded in thinking that businesses would do anything to make an extra buck. 
@BarBaraPrz (50999)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
12h
Penny for your thoughts, to put in your penny loafers.
Canada ceased production of their penny (excuse me, it's official name was one-cent coin) and so far our economy hasn't collapsed... even though penny candy now costs upwards of 5 cents a piece and stores no longer accept the coin.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (50999)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
9h
@porwest Pennies are not in circulation here. About 10 years ago Canadians could bring their caches of pennies to the bank and have them credited to their accounts or been given the equivalent in cash. I've kept a few in my wallet, just so I could say "I'm not penniless", but they don't see the light of day except by accident.
Only 199,347,000 were minted in 2012, the last year of production.
1 person likes this
@porwest (111771)
• United States
9h
@BarBaraPrz That is not the case here in the United States. They stopped production of the penny on November 12th, but they made one billion of them in 2025. The U.S. Mint, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the United States government has explicitly said, "Continue to use your pennies. They are still legal tender. We ENCOURAGE you to continue to use the penny."
For all intents and purposes, as it stands now, here in America, there is no need whatsoever to cash pennies in to a bank for credit. They are viable, usable, spendable, legal tender until we are told otherwise.
@porwest (111771)
• United States
11h
This post is not about a worry that the economy will collapse. It's not a post about the penny ceasing production or even a worry about that. It is about there being 300 billion pennies, right now, IN current circulation, with the end of production only being a month ago and businesses claiming that all of a sudden...
There is a penny shortage. There isn't one.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (92228)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
9h
Time to start making fashionable penny jewelry; at least it will look good.
1 person likes this
@2ndchances24 (11372)
• Cloverdale, Indiana
10h
I was wondering why when you go to check out they ask if
you want to make a even checkout, like if your at $10,35 &
you round it out to 11.00 that's what? 65 extra cents they get.
I just don't get why things are like they are from how it use
to be 20 yrs ago, I know nothing stays the same & every
thing changes over time but LEAVE our $ ALONE ! ! !
Your browser isn’t supported anymore. Update it to get the best YouTube experience and our latest features. Learn moreRemind me later
1 person likes this
@porwest (111771)
• United States
9h
Well, the round up for charity thing has been going on for quite some time and is a different story. What they are saying there, or encouraging, is for people to "round up" for a cause. "Do you want to help stop child hunger today and round up to $11?"
I think it's mostly a load of hooey too. I mean, sure, they ARE sending the money to whatever charity they are promoting. BUT, not every penny of it. The businesses who do this KEEP some of the round up, claiming it as a "processing fee." So, it really is just another way to add to their bottom lines even if SOME of the money actually does go to a cause.
As for the penny, I don't mind that they stopped production of it. I mean, I'd like it to have stayed. But it is what it is. My issue is with businesses all of a sudden pretending like we don't have any more pennies on the planet and already doing this round up thing. It makes no sense when there are 300 billion pennies in current circulation. It's just a money grab. Like I said, just because they stopped making the penny a month ago does NOT mean suddenly we are out of pennies.
Sure, 5 or 10 years from now we might see some reduced supply due to attrition and other factors. But right now? There are PLENTY of pennies and no need at all to say, "There's a shortage." It's just stupidity, and unfortunately, there are a lot of people that can't put that together in their heads and will agree, "Oh yeah, they stopped making pennies last month, we must be out of them."
That's IMPOSSIBLE to be true.
@kaylachan (81423)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
8h
I feel like I've been living under a rock, or Florida is. None of the places I've been in said anything about a Penny shortage. I've heard some guys saying that they'd happily take the unwanted pennies if people don't want them, because someday they might be worth something.
But, I wish I could say I was surprised. Someone somewhere will find any excuse to start drama.
@LeaPea2417 (39330)
• Toccoa, Georgia
3h
I have a bunch of pennies that I need to roll and take to the bank.
