Penny Shortage: How Small Businesses Can Handle Cash Change

Your cash drawer has nickels, dimes, and quarters, but not enough pennies to give the next customer exact change. The immediate problem is a checkout decision: what should the cashier charge, explain, and record?

If your small business is short of pennies, check your bank's current supply, verify the rules that apply to your location, and test your POS before changing how you settle cash purchases. Give staff one written procedure and tell customers what to expect before payment.

Use the owner checklist, transaction tests, and cashier card below to prepare one consistent procedure.

Official sources checked October 26, 2026. Cash acceptance, rounding, and tax requirements can change; use the official links below when reviewing your store's procedure.

Penny Production Ended. Existing Pennies Still Have Value.

The U.S. Mint ended production of pennies for general circulation on November 12, 2025. Existing pennies remain legal tender, and businesses can still price goods in one-cent increments. The Mint also distinguishes circulating production from limited collector versions. U.S. Mint announcement

That does not mean every bank has stopped supplying pennies. The Federal Reserve's distribution information shows both locations filling penny orders and locations with insufficient inventory. It does not supply coins directly to retailers; ask your own bank or credit union about service for your account. FedCash penny supply information

Also separate a coin's legal-tender status from a store's obligation to accept it. The Federal Reserve explains that there is no general federal requirement for a private business to accept cash for goods or services, while state requirements may apply. Check the state and local rules for your location before changing what you accept. Federal Reserve cash acceptance FAQ

Before Changing Checkout: A Store Owner's Checklist

1. Ask your bank what it can actually provide

Confirm penny availability for your business account, order limits, expected replenishment, and whether another branch can help. Ask separately about depositing your existing pennies and any sorting or packaging requirements.

Keep the answer with the date and branch contact. Another store's experience, or a Federal Reserve distribution site's status, does not establish what your bank can provide today.

2. Verify the rule, its scope, and its effective date

Start with your state tax authority and consumer protection agency. Check cash acceptance requirements as well as any rounding method, notice, tax, and refund provisions. Record the official page and the date you checked it.

Treasury's December 23, 2025 penny FAQs are nonbinding guidance, subject to applicable restrictions. They recommend fair, consistent, transparent handling and distinguish cash from non-cash payments. Treasury penny FAQs

State sources show why the details matter:

• New Jersey's published guidance describes cash rounding as optional and requires clear, conspicuous disclosure before a customer incurs a charge. New Jersey Division of Taxation
• Arizona law specifies a rounding method when pennies are unavailable or unused at the point of sale and requires a visible notice. Arizona Revised Statutes, section 44-7952

These are examples of what to verify, not instructions for stores in other states. An enrolled Common Cents Act text is dated October 9, 2026; check its latest enactment status and effective provisions when reviewing your store's policy. An enrolled bill alone does not establish that its provisions are in force.

3. Confirm how your POS handles the transaction

Ask your POS provider where a cash adjustment appears, which payment types trigger it, and how the adjustment flows into the closing report. Check returns, split payments, offline operation, and manual overrides separately.

Do not assume a button labeled "rounding" uses the method or tax treatment your store needs. Keep the test receipt and matching report together so the closing person can follow the result.

4. Keep price, tax, cash adjustment, and change distinct

Treasury recommends applying a cash rounding adjustment after duties, fees, and taxes have been calculated, with the adjustment visible on the receipt. Your applicable rules still control. Texas, for example, instructs retailers to calculate and remit sales tax using the original sales price before rounding the cash total. Treasury guidance; Texas Comptroller

When testing, identify each of these amounts:

• The transaction total before any cash rounding adjustment, including calculated tax and fees.
• The cash adjustment, if applicable.
• The resulting amount payable.
• The cash the customer hands over.
• The change returned.

For an illustrative system test only, suppose the original total is $12.43 and a verified, applicable method produces a $0.02 upward adjustment. The cash amount payable would be $12.45. If the customer hands over $20.00, the change would be $7.55. This demonstrates the receipt arithmetic, not a rounding rule every store may adopt.

5. Assign one owner and one current procedure

Write down the store, procedure version, effective date, approved method, and manager responsible for questions. Staff should not decide independently whether to round up, round down, or change the treatment from one customer to the next.

Test Purchases, Receipts, and Refunds Before the First Shift

Use your POS training mode or another provider-approved test process. If a real test transaction is necessary, follow the provider's instructions for recording and reversing it.

Treasury recommends that non-cash payments continue to settle to the exact cent. Treat split payments and refunds as specific questions for your applicable rules and POS setup, rather than assuming a normal cash sale test covers them. Treasury FAQs

A Penny-Shortage Quick Card for Cashiers

Adapt this card to the method your business has verified. Put the version date and manager contact on the staff copy.

1. Before opening: Check penny stock and read the current cash-change procedure. Confirm the customer notice matches it.
2. Before payment: Identify the payment method and explain any applicable cash adjustment before completing the purchase.
3. When pennies are offered: Follow the approved instructions for customer-supplied pennies or exact payment. Ask the manager if the situation is not covered.
4. At settlement: Use the tested POS process, check the amount payable, count back the change, and provide the receipt. Do not improvise an extra adjustment.
5. For an exception: Refer split payments, refunds, customer questions, or unexpected totals to the designated person when they fall outside your instructions.
6. At handoff: Leave the adjustment records and unresolved questions with the transaction references and the next person responsible.

A simple customer conversation can begin: "We have limited pennies for change today. Let me show you the cash total and explain our procedure before you pay." The cashier should then explain the store's actual method and available options.

What a Customer Notice Should Say

A useful notice explains the effect on the customer's purchase before payment. "No pennies" by itself does not tell a customer what amount they will pay.

Before posting, make sure your notice includes:

• The specific cash transactions affected.
• The actual method your store uses, in plain language.
• How customer-provided pennies or exact payment are handled, where applicable.
• How non-cash payments are treated.
• Where to ask about a total, refund, or disagreement.

Check whether your jurisdiction prescribes particular wording or placement. The cashier's explanation, posted notice, POS result, and receipt should describe the same procedure. A notice does not by itself make a method permissible.

Do not replace missing change with a donation, store credit, or another payment method without checking the applicable requirements and the customer's actual choice.

At Close: Keep Cash Adjustments Visible

Make sure the person closing the drawer can distinguish the original transaction amounts, any recorded cash adjustments, and the physical cash. Confirm with your POS provider or bookkeeper whether the expected cash total already includes adjustments; adding them a second time creates a new discrepancy.

For an exception that needs follow-up, retain:

• Business date, drawer or shift, and transaction reference.
• Original total, recorded adjustment, and final cash amount payable or refundable.
• Cash received or paid out, and change where relevant.
• What did not match, the person responsible, and the resolution status.

Use existing POS records when they provide the needed detail. An exception log can fill a gap; you do not need to copy every transaction into a second manual ledger.

Keep cash adjustments and unexplained differences separately identifiable. If a drawer does not match its report, preserve both figures and investigate the difference instead of inserting an adjustment simply to make the totals agree.

For restaurant teams connecting a closed drawer to a handoff and later bank confirmation, our restaurant cash handling checklist covers that wider process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can customers still use pennies?

Existing pennies remain legal tender. That is separate from the cash acceptance rules and transaction requirements that apply to a particular business. Verify those requirements before changing your store's policy.

Does a penny shortage mean every cash sale must round up?

No. A shortage does not authorize staff to round every transaction upward. Verify the applicable method, triggering conditions, and notice requirements, then apply the confirmed procedure consistently.

Should card payments be rounded because pennies are unavailable?

Treasury recommends processing non-cash payments to the exact cent. Check that your POS does not apply a cash adjustment to card or other non-cash transactions.

Do all prices have to end in 0 or 5 cents now?

The Mint says businesses can continue pricing goods and services in one-cent increments. Item pricing and an adjustment to the final cash settlement are separate questions; do not change item prices just to work around an untested checkout setting.

Can a coin counter solve the shortage?

A coin counter can support physical coin counting within its verified capabilities. It does not create penny supply, choose a lawful rounding method, or configure your POS. Start by resolving the supply and checkout questions in this checklist.

Prepare One Procedure Before You Need It

Before the next shift, confirm penny availability, save the applicable official guidance, test the payment scenarios, and brief staff using one current procedure. Keep a sample receipt with the closing instructions so the same cash adjustment can be followed from checkout to reconciliation.

Copy the owner checklist and cashier card into your store's operating instructions, adapt them before printing, and review them whenever your supply, POS, or applicable rules change.