All news
Federal Reserve Financial ServicesMarch 23, 20262 months ago

Federal Reserve Resumes Penny Order Fulfillment at Subset of Coin Distribution Locations

Per the Federal Reserve's official penny order and deposit status page, a subset of coin distribution locations resumed fulfilling penny orders on March 23, 2026 — the next phase after January's deposit resumption, completing the recirculation loop so banks can order pennies back out. Hawaii and Alaska locations were added June 8, 2026. Some locations still cannot fulfill orders due to localized inventory shortfalls.

The Federal Reserve took the next step in penny recirculation: according to its official "Penny Order and Deposit Information" status page, on March 23, 2026 a subset of coin distribution locations that had stopped fulfilling penny orders began fulfilling them again, citing increased deposit activity. (This update was published as a status-page change rather than a press release; the date and rollout were verified against archived versions of the page.)

Completing the Recirculation Loop

The move completes the cycle the Fed began in January 2026. The sequence:

  • November 2025: Penny production ends; the Fed suspends penny services at most of its coin distribution network as inventories dwindle
  • January 14, 2026: Penny deposits resume at previously suspended locations, letting banks and retailers return accumulated pennies to the system
  • March 23, 2026: With deposit volumes rebuilding inventories, penny orders resume at a subset of locations — banks can once again obtain pennies to supply businesses that want them
Since no new pennies are being minted, the roughly 114 billion existing pennies are the entire future supply; the Fed's role is purely to recirculate what consumers and businesses deposit.

A Partial, Inventory-Driven Rollout

The resumption is explicitly partial. Several distribution locations continue to report they are not fulfilling penny orders due to insufficient inventory, and the Fed says it monitors coin flows weekly and will evaluate further expansion as deposits allow.

June Expansion to Hawaii and Alaska

The status page shows continued widening of the program: as of June 8, 2026, Loomis Armored US and Pacific Courier in Honolulu and AXIOM Armored in Anchorage joined the locations fulfilling penny orders — bringing the recirculation program to the two states where coin logistics are hardest.

Why It Matters

For retailers that prefer exact change over rounding, penny availability now depends entirely on this deposit-and-reorder loop. The March resumption is the strongest signal yet that recirculation is working — while the persistent location-by-location gaps underscore that penny supply will remain uneven as the coins gradually drain from circulation.

Source

federal reservepenny depositspenny orderscoin circulationcoin distributionbankscash supplyrecirculation