Penny Shortage Pushes Stores to Adjust Prices and Change Systems

In February 2025, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Mint would stop minting pennies, citing their high production cost. According to the U.S. Mint, it cost 3.7 cents to make one penny in 2024. Now, retailers across the country are facing a penny shortage and adapting their pricing and rounding practices for cash transactions.

Canada made a similar move in 2012 when the Royal Canadian Mint ended penny distribution. Although the coin remained legal tender, the government encouraged consumers to redeem or donate their pennies and guided businesses on new rounding practices. Cash totals were rounded to the nearest five cents after taxes and fees, while electronic payments continued to be processed to the exact cent, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

As U.S. retailers adjust to the end of penny production, many are experiencing shortages while waiting to update point-of-sale systems and pricing structures.

An NRF survey found retailers are taking a variety of steps to manage the shortage and continue serving cash-paying customers. Many are updating POS systems, training employees and posting in-store notices to inform shoppers. Some stores are temporarily rounding in the customer’s favor to avoid disputes and compliance issues.

At Family Hardware, which has two locations in South Florida, owner Jeremy Peterson learned about the shortage during one of his twice-weekly change runs to Fifth Third Bank, when he was told the bank would no longer issue pennies.

Because Family Hardware operates on its own point-of-sale system, the switch was simple. Peterson sent a reference photo from McDonald’s to his developer, who built a rounding feature that automatically adjusts cash totals to the nearest nickel. The update went live the next day.

“We reacted quickly because we were able to,” he says. “It wasn’t an overly-complicated change to implement, and we knew if we weren’t going to get pennies, we didn’t have a choice.”

The store kept prices the same, most ending in 99 cents, and posted a short notice explaining the change. Peterson said customers haven’t complained.

How Penny Rounding Works

Prices on shelves haven’t changed. Only cash change is affected—card and digital payments are exact.

Rounding breakdown:

• Ends in 1¢ or 2¢ → round down to 0¢
• Ends in 3¢ or 4¢ → round up to 5¢
• Ends in 5¢ or 0¢ → exact change
• Ends in 6¢ or 7¢ → round down to 5¢
• Ends in 8¢ or 9¢ → round up to 10¢

After the switch, Peterson reviewed 405 cash transactions totaling $5,300 and found the rounding difference was just $1.80.

“You’re going to win some and lose some,” he says. “It’s negligible. It’s not going to change the world, but it’s one less coin to manage.”

Peterson said some retailers are concerned about how rounding affects sales tax.

“Worst case, I’ll just give the whole $1.80 if we ever get audited. It’s such a small amount, it’s not worth complicating,” he says.

Because Family Hardware uses a custom POS, Peterson could make the change immediately, something many retailers can’t do.

“If the computer doesn’t do the rounding for you and it falls on the cashier, that’s when it gets messy,” he says. “Your drawers would be off by a penny every day.”

Cash makes up about 27% of Family Hardware’s sales. For Peterson, the switch isn’t about money; it’s about efficiency.

“Not using pennies makes everything quicker,” he says. “It’s one less thing to deal with at checkout.”