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Dr. Scott Strong, a college professor and numbers expert, recently had an eye-opening experience at White Castle when the restaurant didn’t give him the penny he was owed in his change.
“They just kept it,” he told the Kendall and Casey Show on Indiana’s 93.1 WIBC (1). In fact, Dr. Strong was apparently told that not giving customers their pennies back is now corporate policy.
By Strong’s math, if every White Castle location nationwide kept just one penny per cash transaction, the restaurant would be taking in an extra $835,000 a year. And if the practice becomes commonplace, it could result in a 3% to 5% increase in transaction costs for consumers, or even more for those who use cash regularly.
In Strong’s case, asking for the manager resulted in him going home with a shiny nickel for his troubles, but his experience is one aspect of the confusion that’s hitting consumers at the cash register in the early goings of a post-penny world. The rules are now inconsistent and depend on the store, the chain, the location and possibly the cashier’s mood.
For consumers on fixed budgets, that means they’re no longer able to predict the final price of a purchase down to the cent when paying with cash.
It’s been just over a year since President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce the phasing out of the one-cent piece in February 2025, stating that pennies “literally cost us more than two cents” to make (2). According to the U.S. Mint, over the past decade, the cost of producing each penny has risen from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents (3).
The U.S. Mint produced the final batch of one-cent coins on Nov. 12, 2025, and the final penny that went into circulation was struck by U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach at a ceremonial event in Philadelphia.
But even before production of the penny came to a halt, approximately 1.3 billion pennies went into circulation in 2025, versus the more than three billion that were produced the year prior.
While no new pennies are being manufactured, the existing supply in circulation is estimated to be approximately 300 billion as of late 2025, “far exceeding the amount needed for commerce,” according to the U.S. Mint (4).
Retailers, however, reported shortages almost immediately.
According to a November 2025 survey conducted by the Retail Industry Leaders Association, thousands of retail locations nationwide are facing a penny shortage (5). In fact, nearly one quarter of the 25 retailers surveyed said that more than 1,000 of their locations were completely out of pennies. By mid-November, more than 100 of the 165 coin distribution sites across the country had run dry of pennies.
When pennies were not available, two-thirds of survey respondents said they had taken to rounding transactions to the nearest nickel to benefit consumers. And it’s this practice — likely multiplied across thousands of transactions and retail locations across the country — that could end up costing businesses a pretty penny.
The National Restaurant Association estimates that rounding down could collectively cost restaurants up to $14 million per month, or up to $168 million per year, citing that one in four meals is paid in cash (6).
According to a December statement from the association, the inability to provide exact change “creates friction at checkout, frustrating customers,” said Michelle Korsmo, president & CEO of the National Restaurant Association (7).
“In a highly competitive industry, like restaurants, any change to the hospitality our customers expect could mean a lost return sale for an operator.”
In the absence of national guidelines from Congress, Jeff Lenard — vice president of media and strategic communications at the National Association of Convenience Stores — says retailers are left with “three bad options”: rounding down and taking the hit, rounding up and risking fines in jurisdictions that require exact change or leaning on card payments, which incur fees (8).
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As of right now, there is no federal rule about how a lack of pennies is handled at the cash register.
In a September letter to members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (9), members of nine retail and advisory groups asked for “a national law allowing businesses to round transactions to the nearest nickel,” adding that “businesses simply cannot provide exact change any longer because they cannot get pennies.”
According to the U.S. Treasury (10), “businesses should apply rounding practices in a fair, consistent, and transparent manner.” The Treasury also cited recommendations from a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures (11) published in November 2025, which pushed for “symmetrical rounding whereby if the final digit of the total transaction amount (including taxes) is 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents, the amount is rounded down to the nearest multiple of five. If the final digit is 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents, the amount is rounded up.”
Since Americans are now forced to make purchases in a penny-less world, here are a few things for consumers to consider before reaching for their wallets:
Remember that rounding can go up or down, and there’s no requirement for retailers to post their rounding policies
For cash-only transactions, assume totals might be rounded up and leave some wiggle room
Keep receipts to check later if you think rounding is inconsistent
Fixed budget shoppers will feel it most; those on a tight budget and trying to predict their final costs might want to ask the retailer about their policy before using cash
Card payments stay exact, so if exact pricing is important to you, debit and credit cards might be your best bet
Rounding at the register can be frustrating, but it also shows how quickly small amounts of money can add up over time. Instead of losing those extra cents, you can put them to work.
With Acornsyou can automatically invest spare change from your everyday purchases into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.
For example, if you spend $3.25, Acorns rounds the purchase up to $4 and invests the difference — turning everyday transactions into small, consistent investments. That’s a 75-cent investment in your future.
It’s a simple way to build better financial habits without changing how you spend, especially now that rounding is becoming more common at checkout.
Sign up today, set up a small recurring investment, and you can get a $20 bonus investment.
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— With files from Libby MacDonald
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
93.1 WIBC (1); Truth Social (2); U.S. Mint (3, 4); Retail Industry Leaders Association (5); National Restaurant Association (6, 7); National Association of Convenience Stores (8); Restaurants.org (9); U.S. Treasury (10); National Conference of State Legislatures (11)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
