Remember the news last May that the U.S. Mint would quit making pennies? Now we’re seeing the first effects of this forthcoming change.
Production of pennies is not scheduled to stop until early next year. But signs at Fred Meyer check stands in Albany now say that production has already stopped. The signs ask customers paying with cash to provide the exact amount so cashiers don’t have to hand out pennies in change.
When pennies are actually hard to get, prices in cash transactions are expected to be rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 cents. It seems to me that merchants could do that now. Then they wouldn’t have to worry about running short of pennies…