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The Penny's Death Knell Is Already Causing Trouble

Retailers say they want guidance from Congress
Posted Oct 19, 2025 9:01 AM CDT
The Penny's Death Knell Is Already Causing Trouble
Freshly-made pennies sit in a bin at the U.S. Mint in Denver on Aug. 15, 2007.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

The penny is on its way out, and it's already causing headaches for American retailers and customers alike. USA Today reports the US Treasury Department placed its final penny-blanks order in May, and once those blanks are used up—likely in early 2026—penny production will cease. But several Federal Reserve sites have already stopped supplying pennies to banks, leaving businesses scrambling to handle cash transactions that don't end in a five or a zero when a customer doesn't have exact change, reports the New York Times.

Retailers say the lack of government guidance on how to adapt is problematic. A number of retail trade associations, including the National Association of Convenience Stores and the National Grocers Association, have called on Congress to pass legislation that would establish clear rules for rounding transactions. In a Tuesday letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, they requested "immediate legal guidance from USDA to specifically stipulate that SNAP authorized retail food stores are not in violation of the SNAP equal treatment provisions if the store rounds cash transactions to the nearest nickel."

In the absence of federal direction, some retailers are improvising. Kwik Trip, a Midwest convenience chain, has started rounding cash purchases down to the nearest nickel at its 850 locations. As a Kwik Trip rep told Wisconsin Public Radio, "What we're finding from some of our banks in our markets here in Wisconsin is that penny supply is already depleted. So given that, we have to make a pivot ... because we still have 17% of our customers who pay with cash." Sheetz, based in Pennsylvania, is going the incentive route for now: Customers can "cash in one dollar's worth of spare pennies to receive a self-serve drink."

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