The final penny was pressed on Nov. 12. The Secretary of the Treasury decided to suspend production of the one-cent coin after determining it was no longer needed—and becoming increasingly expensive to make. The cost to produce the penny has increased from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents per penny, according to the United States Mint.
The change has left some retailers, like convenience stores, scrambling as they face penny shortages and decisions on how to adjust their prices.
The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), Alexandria, Virginia, said without the production of new pennies, cash transactions would need to be rounded to the nearest nickel. Some states and localities have cash laws that would prohibit this type of rounding, NACS said. It, along with other associations, have been advocating for Congress and the Trump administration to resolve the issue, and sent a letter on Sept. 30 to lawmakers to create a national law allowing businesses to round transactions to the nearest nickel.
La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip said in early October that all cash purchases at Kwik Trip and Kwik Star locations will now be rounded down to the nearest five cents.
- Kwik Trip is No. 11 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Love’s Travel Stops is No. 15, Stewart’s Shops is No. 22, Weigel’s is No. 84 and Southwest Georgia Oil Co. is No. 86.
The Treasury Department did not provide guidance on how to proceed, so Kwik Trip decided to round down, it said, “ensuring a guest-friendly approach.” The company will continue this approach until a permanent legislative solution has been enacted, it said.
While the penny remains legal tender, Kwik Trip’s updated register systems will automatically apply rounding rules to all cash transactions, rounding down in the customer’s favor. Digital and card-based transactions will remain unaffected and continue to be processed at the exact purchase amount.
Here’s how other convenience stores are adjusting their operations.
Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores
Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores said in a Nov. 13 statement that its locations across several states are impacted by the phase-out of the penny.
“If a store runs out of pennies, all change on cash transactions will be adjusted in the favor of the customer and Love’s will cover the difference,” Love’s Travel Stops said. “This is a temporary measure while we work toward a long-term solution. Love’s appreciates our customers’ understanding and patience as we navigate this change.”
Love’s Chief Marketing Officer Patrick McLean told CSP that the chain is looking to reimplement its pricing strategies. It’s a significant impact, he said, both in terms of the business side of it and how it impacts customers, and as far as changes in technology.
“All of our systems, and all of our point-of-sales systems, are geared to having a penny as an option. It’s all got to get re-tooled,” he said.
The travel center chain, based in Oklahoma City, has more than 650 stores.
Stewart’s Shops
Ballston Spa, New York-based Stewart’s Shops said on its website, “Stewart’s response is simple. We round up for you. For example, if a customer is owed one penny, Stewart’s will give the customer a nickel.”
The company, which has more than 400 c-stores, added: “It makes ‘cents’ to give the customer a break.”
Weigel’s
As of Nov. 14, Weigel’s President and CEO Doug Yawberry said they were out of pennies at several stores. The Powell, Tennessee-based convenience-store chain has more than 80 stores in Tennessee.
“We’re just rounding up to the customer, giving them the benefit of that. We’re working on a rounding for donation piece, too. But where we’re out, that’s what we’re doing, is the rounding piece,” he told CSP.
They’ve also been working with NACS to get some federal support.
“We have found, in many cases, we’re educating the customers. Because there’s many customers out there that have no idea there’s a penny shortage, that they stopped making a penny or any of that,” Yawberry said.
Southwest Georgia Oil Co.
Glennie Bench, president and COO of Southwest Georgia Oil Co., told CSP on Nov. 19 that while they were aware the penny change was coming, banks stopped handing out pennies sooner than expected.
The Bainbridge, Georgia-based company, which owns more than 80 SunStop convenience stores, uses Verifone technology for its point-of-sale system, and was able to adjust that to round down prices.
“We had recently implemented round-up technology through our point-of-sale where you can round up to go to a charity,” Bench said. “And so, we were able to utilize that same technology to round down for the payment accuracy.”
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