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McDonald’s told CBS News they’ll be taking on a rounding method when it comes to customers paying in cash.
Reason being? The US Mint in Philadelphia pressed its last penny on Wednesday, leaving McDonald’s and other stores to figure out how to deal with the fallout.
Order totals will be rounded to the nearest five cents. So if a customer’s order totals $10.17, they’ll pay $10.15. But if instead it comes out to $10.18, they’ll be asked to pay $10.20.
Other chains are curving more to the customer’s advantage.
GoTo Foods, the parent company of Auntie Anne’s, Cinnabon, Jamba, and Carvel said that it’s “recommending that franchisees round cash transactions in the guest’s favor.”
Wendy’s and Midwestern convenience chain Kwik Trip are hopping on a similar train.
“We have given guidance to our restaurants to round cash transactions down to the nearest nickel if they are experiencing penny shortages,” Wendy’s said. Kwik Trip said the same.
The practice of rounding cash payments isn’t brand new. Countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand have been implementing variations of the method since their own lower value coins were eradicated.
Kroger is still holding out hope that customers will be able to pay their amounts down to the cent.
“We kindly ask customers to consider providing exact change,” the restaurant told CBS News.
Giant Eagle, based in Pennsylvania, had an ahead-of-the-game approach. The supermarket hosted an event on November 1 encouraging customers to trade in pennies for gift cards worth twice as much. The minimum exchange amount was 50 cents and the maximum was $100, which would translate to a $200 gift card.
“This proactive step allows the company to maintain accuracy and fairness while it awaits formal guidance from the US government regarding future rounding practices,” Giant Eagle said.
Sheetz had a similar idea. The chain offered a promotion where customers could earn a free drink for $1.00 in pennies. Still, Sheetz said it prefers cashless payments.
All stores seem to be awaiting federal guidance on how they should proceed with the penny pinch.
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Ava Levinson
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