No More Pennies: What the Penny Discontinuation Means for Independent Grocers

It’s official: The penny is retired.

In late 2025, the U.S. Mint halted production of pennies. They’re still considered legal tender, but the supply is dwindling.

Independent grocery stores are already feeling the impact. Banks are no longer distributing pennies, and in some areas, they’re completely gone from the circulation — making it impossible for you to make change and forcing you to choose between customer satisfaction and thin profit margins.

But there’s a better way to handle the penny discontinuation while protecting your reputation and profitability: penny rounding.

In this blog, we’ll share everything you need to know to set up penny rounding in your grocery store with minimal headache — plus how IT Retail’s built-in penny rounding feature can help.

Penny Rounding 101 for Grocery Stores

You might’ve already adopted an informal rounding strategy as pennies have disappeared from circulation.

Your cashiers and customers face awkward moments at the cash register. Their total is $23.47, and the customer handed you a $25 bill. The choice is to short-change them by 2 cents or give them an extra nickel.

Rounding down might not sound like a big deal, but losing a few cents on every transaction can quickly add up — eating into your grocery store’s already-thin profit margins. But rounding up can frustrate customers and make them feel wary of being overcharged.

Fortunately, automating the penny rounding approach can prevent checkout slowdowns, protect your grocery store’s reputation, and help you stay profitable. Let’s look at our top three tips to implement it in your grocery store.

1. Avoid Penny Rounding Pitfalls

Penny rounding might seem like a simple solution to the penny problem, but here are a few mistakes grocers often make when adopting this approach:

• Manual math and decisions at the register: When cashiers decide whether to round up or down for every single transaction, inconsistency is inevitable. Some cashiers will decide on the fly, while others will always round up or down — meaning customers have a different checkout experience every time they shop with you.

• Rounding up every time: Rounding up every transaction to the nearest nickel seems like the obvious choice. It’s only a few cents for your customers, and it protects your profit margins. However, when customers feel like they’re being overcharged, they’ll lose trust in your brand.

• Always rounding in the customers’ favor: To protect your store’s reputation and keep your customers’ trust, you might decide to always round down to the nearest nickel. While generous, these few cents add up, eating away at your profits over time.

In short, your goal should be to provide a consistent checkout experience for customers, safeguard your grocery store’s reputation, and protect your profit margins.

2. Rely on Your Grocery Store POS

How can you ensure that cash transactions are rounded up or down to the next nickel — without relying on your cashiers to do the math? Your grocery store's point of sale (POS) system can help.

IT Retail, our grocery POS software, has a built-in penny rounding feature that you can toggle on and off. This means totals are adjusted automatically at the checkout counter, preventing slowdowns and confusion. Totals are always rounded to the nearest nickel, so $24.42 or $35.17 would be rounded down to $24.40 and $35.15, while $18.48 or $50.14 would be rounded up to $18.50 and $50.15.

This logic means that your penny rounding always evens out — sometimes the customer saves a penny or two, sometimes you do.

3. Communicate With Your Customers

Your grocery POS system should make accurate penny rounding effortless, but you’ll still have to prepare your customers and employees for the change.

First, train your employees. Your cashiers are on the front lines when it comes to the penny shortage, so let them know about your new penny policy. They shouldn’t have to adjust totals manually, but they should be able to communicate with customers about how and why you’re rounding to the nearest nickel.

Next, add signage to your checkout counters. This keeps lines moving by preemptively answering customers’ questions. It also makes your grocery store seem more trustworthy.

These signs should explain how your penny rounding policy works, that it only applies to cash transactions, and that it’s a response to the penny shortage.

Related Read: 5 Grocery Staff Training Tips & Tools

Upgrade to a Grocery POS System With Automatic Penny Rounding

There’s no need to worry about the penny shortage — as long as you have the right tools and approach.

Your grocery store’s POS system should include built-in penny rounding to keep checkout lines moving, protect your profits, and simplify the change-making process. IT Retail includes this must-have feature, plus everything else you need to manage perishable inventory, nurture customer loyalty, and make more sales.

Start your IT Retail journey today by exploring our flexible pricing options!