A sign posted outside Calandro’s Supermarket on Government Street
After the U.S. Mint produced its last penny earlier this month, local retailers are rounding up prices and preparing for shortages of the copper coin.
While 114 billion pennies are still in circulation, some local grocers have instituted rounding policies for cash transactions and nixed the 1-cent coin from their daily tenders. Brett Deville, an assistant manager at Calandro’s Supermarket, said the Government Street store began adjusting cash transactions to the nearest nickel last month.
Transactions ending in 1 or 2 cents will round down to zero, transactions ending in 3 to 7 cents will round to 5 cents and transactions ending in 8 or 9 cents will round up to 10. Non-cash transactions will not be affected.
Deville said the store made the decision after its bank sent out a message to the grocer stating it would no longer be using pennies.
Calandro’s customers cannot pay with pennies, and cashiers will not use pennies when giving change. The store still has some pennies to round out deposits for accounting. Less than a quarter of their sales are cash, so the store hasn’t noticed much of a difference.
“We have not seen the full impact yet,” Deville said.
President Donald Trump ordered his administration to halt penny production in February after the cost of making the coin jumped about 20% last year. According to the U.S. Mint’s 2024 Annual Report, the penny costs 3.7 cents to produce.
Rouses Markets announced earlier this month that the stores will round cash transactions up to the nearest nickel to ensure customers don’t come up short in change. All 66 of the grocer’s stores across Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi have implemented the policy, which Rouses Creative Director Marcy Nathan said has been “no issue at all.”
Justin Alford, co-owner of Benny’s Car Wash & Oil Change and B-Quik convenience stores, said his businesses still have enough pennies at the moment to continue cash transactions — which make up about one-third of their overall transactions — but he is trying to get ahead of an imminent depletion. Alford said he has not yet instituted any changes regarding the usage of pennies in cash transactions but anticipates implementing a rounding policy early next year.
Benny’s first felt the impact of the penny cessation in September, when their weekly purchases of pennies from the bank decreased from $100 worth of pennies to $20 worth of pennies.
He expects the convenience stores, where most cash transactions occur across his businesses, to be most affected by the upcoming policy. Customers purchasing gas or car washes tend to pay with a credit card or dollar bills, if they’re using cash. Alford said he doesn’t know if the rounding policy will have an impact on sales.
“Everyone’s going to be on the same boat so it’s hard to say,” he said.
