The penny, a fixture in American pockets and cash registers for well over a century, is quietly shuffling toward retirement—and the effects are already rippling through the nation’s retail landscape. According to USA Today, the U.S. Treasury Department placed its final order for penny blanks in May 2025, and once those are used up—likely by early 2026—the minting of new pennies will come to a halt. But for many businesses and their customers, the end of the penny is arriving ahead of schedule.
Several Federal Reserve sites, which distribute coins to banks and credit unions, have already ceased supplying pennies as of October 2025, reports The New York Times. This abrupt change has left retailers scrambling to handle cash transactions that no longer neatly resolve with a one-cent coin. For everyday Americans who still rely on cash, the disappearance of the penny is more than just a rounding error—it’s a logistical headache that’s catching many off guard.
Retailers, especially those serving cash-dependent customers, are feeling the pinch. “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,” a Kwik Trip spokesperson told Wisconsin Public Radio, as cited by USA Today. The Midwest-based convenience store chain, with 850 locations, has responded by rounding cash purchases down to the nearest nickel—a move that aims to soften the blow for consumers, at least for now.
Sheetz, a popular convenience store chain headquartered in Pennsylvania, has taken a slightly different approach. With signs in its stores alerting customers to the penny shortage—"Attention Customers: The U.S. Mint will no longer produce pennies, so we are short on change!"—Sheetz is encouraging patrons to pay with credit, debit, or mobile payment apps. For those who do have spare pennies, the store offers a quirky incentive: cash in one dollar’s worth of pennies and receive a self-serve drink. Customers can also round up their cash purchases to support charity, a move that turns a minor inconvenience into a chance for goodwill, as reported by WGAL-TV and The New York Times.
Other retailers are also improvising as the penny becomes scarce. Love’s Travel Stops, based in Oklahoma City, has adopted a temporary policy of rounding up change at affected locations. “Its impact is already evident across our retail operations,” a Love’s spokesperson said, according to The New York Times. “A number of Love’s locations across various states are impacted, and that number continues to fluctuate.” The company is still searching for a long-term solution, but for now, the penny’s absence is a daily operational challenge.
Even national chains like Home Depot and Burger King are not immune. Some Home Depot stores have begun requiring exact change for cash transactions because of the penny shortage, as noted in a Reddit forum dedicated to the retailer. Home Depot and Sheetz representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but the anecdotal evidence is mounting. Burger King, meanwhile, is still accepting pennies for now, but warns that “due to the shortage, exact change may not be possible,” as a spokesperson told The New York Times. The fast-food chain is recommending that guests pay with credit, debit, or exact change when possible.
The root of the penny’s demise is, perhaps unsurprisingly, economic. The U.S. Treasury Department announced earlier in 2025 that it was winding down penny production because it now costs more to manufacture the coin than its face value. This cost inefficiency has been a topic of debate for years, but the government’s decision to finally pull the plug has left many retailers in a bind—particularly when it comes to transactions that don’t round neatly to a nickel or dime.
Without clear federal guidance, retailers are left to navigate the transition on their own, and the results are predictably uneven. In early October 2025, a consortium of retail groups—including the National Association of Convenience Stores and the National Grocers Association—sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would establish clear rules for rounding transactions. The groups argued that such legislation is essential not only for operational clarity but also to protect low-income customers who rely on cash and need access to services like check cashing. As the letter stated, “Unless these services are covered by legislation, many low-income customers may lose access to the services they need and have come to expect.”
On October 14, 2025, these associations also wrote to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, requesting “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.” The lack of direction from federal agencies has left retailers worried about potential legal or regulatory repercussions if they take matters into their own hands.
The penny’s slow fade is also raising questions about the future of cash itself. For years, digital payments have been on the rise, but as Kwik Trip’s experience shows, a significant portion of Americans—about 17% of their customers—still prefer cash. For these individuals, the disappearance of the penny could mean higher costs if stores round up, or potential confusion and frustration if they’re asked to provide exact change that’s no longer available.
Some retailers, like Sheetz and Love’s, are using the moment to encourage digital payments, but that’s not always practical for everyone, especially those without access to credit cards or smartphones. The penny’s departure, then, is more than just a quirk of currency; it’s a real-world test of how adaptable America’s payment infrastructure—and its people—really are.
The uncertainty is likely to persist until Congress or federal regulators step in with clear, nationwide guidance. Until then, businesses large and small will continue to improvise, and customers will need to be ready for a little extra math at the register. For now, the penny’s absence is a reminder that even the smallest change can set off a chain reaction—one that touches wallets, checkout counters, and, perhaps most of all, the everyday experience of paying for a cup of coffee or a quick snack.
As the last pennies trickle out of circulation and retailers adapt on the fly, the end of America’s smallest coin is proving to be a surprisingly big deal—one that’s forcing everyone to rethink what it means to pay with cash in a changing world.
