Widespread lockdowns and health guidelines favouring the use of credit and debit payments over physical cash has hit the supply of coins and led the Federal Reserve to convene a US Coin Task Force to cope with the shortage.
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US mint facing coin shortage
Not only has the purchasing power of coins fallen in recent years, the production costs have also risen. A 2019 report from the US Mint showed that each penny costs 2 cents to produce and they account for 59% of the total number of coins produced. In fiscal year 2019, the Mint manufactured more than seven billion pennies at a loss of nearly $70m.
