The Fast Food Giant Makes a Bold Move in the Penny Crisis
Some McDonald’s locations have begun rounding cash totals to the nearest five cents due to a growing shortage of pennies, just as the United States Mint produced its final penny on November 12, ending the coin’s 232-year run. This isn’t some marketing gimmick or voluntary choice by the chain. Due to the U.S. Treasury halting production of pennies, the fast-food chain will now be rounding cash change to the nearest 5 cents. The shift caught many customers off guard when signs started appearing at drive-thru windows across the country.
Here’s the thing. This was first brought to customers’ attention on Oct. 25, when a photo of a memo about the change at a Bear Family Restaurants franchise location in Chicago was posted on subreddits r/McDonalds and r/mildyinteresting. Social media exploded with confusion and frustration. McDonald’s confirms to TODAY.com that the policy is real, adding that locations in certain pockets of the country are experiencing penny shortages may round up or down to the nearest 5 cents if a customer does not have exact change.
How the New Rounding System Actually Works
Let’s be real, math might not be everyone’s favorite subject, especially when money is involved. According to the sign, the new rounding policy would work as follows – and only applies to those paying in cash: If a customer’s total ends in 1 cent or 2 cents, round down to 0 cents. If a customer’s total ends in 3 cents or 4 cents, round up to 5 cents. If a customer’s total ends in 5 cents or 0 cents, exact change is given. If a customer’s total ends in 6 cents or 7 cents, round down to 5 cents.
This means that if a customer pays with cash at one of these locations, and their order comes out to $10.22, they will pay $10.20. However, if an order comes out to $10.23, then the cash-paying customer will owe $10.25. So sometimes you save a couple cents, other times you pay a little extra. The whole thing is based on standard rounding rules, which means it could go either way depending on what you order.
Why Pennies Became Too Expensive to Make
The Mint reports that the cost of producing a penny rose from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents over the last decade. Think about that for a moment. The government loses money every single time it makes a penny. In 2024, the Treasury reportedly lost $85.3 million from minting over three billion pennies. That’s a massive amount of taxpayer money going down the drain for coins most people barely use anymore.
Back in February, President Donald Trump said he had directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies due to the rising cost of the coin’s production. Then, in May, the Treasury Department said it had made its final order of penny blanks. The Treasury Department estimates the discontinuation will save $56 million annually. Honestly, when you look at the numbers, it’s hard to argue against stopping production.
Card and Digital Payments Remain Untouched
If you typically pay with plastic or tap your phone, none of this affects you at all. This would not impact card payments or other cashless options. McDonald’s emphasized that menu prices remain unchanged and the rounding policy does not impact card payments or other cashless options, which represent the majority of transactions in the U.S. Your $6.03 total stays exactly that when you swipe or tap.
For the majority of customers who pay using credit or debit cards, or via the app, it’s business as usual. This makes sense since digital transactions don’t require physical coins to complete. Cashless payments now dominate the dining landscape, accounting for roughly 62% of all restaurant transactions as the industry moves deeper into 2025. The shift toward digital payments means fewer people will even notice the penny shortage at checkout.
Not All McDonald’s Locations Are Affected Yet
McDonald’s locations in certain pockets of the country are experiencing penny shortages and may round up or down to the nearest 5 cents if a customer does not have exact change. It’s complicated. McDonald’s USA confirmed to the New York Post and other national outlets that the new policy is only affecting some regions where penny shortages are a problem.
The rollout depends entirely on local penny supplies. While billions of pennies remain in circulation, shortages are expected as coins are lost, removed from circulation by collectors or hoarded. Some McDonald’s still have plenty of pennies in their registers, while others exhausted their supply weeks ago. Those in Northeast Ohio should reach out to their closest McDonald’s directly to find out their cash policy. Calling ahead might save you a surprise at the register.
Customer Reactions Range from Supportive to Skeptical
Social media lit up with mixed reactions when the news broke. “There are still 114 billion pennies in circulation,” said one more. “There is no shortage of pennies. We just need to use the pennies that are in our piggy banks.” Others questioned the legality of the whole thing. “Not sure how this is legal because a penny owed is still a penny owed,” wrote another.
“I guess it’s OK and not a big deal, but knowing how these companies work, I can see them pricing everything so they can pocket an extra 2 cents from every sale,” says a Redditor. That’s a fair concern, honestly. Several Canadian commenters shared their opinions, as Canada discontinued its penny coin equivalent in 2012, causing businesses to enact similar price-rounding rules. “It’s confusing for the first few months, then you just kind of forget about it.,” one Redditor wrote. “Pennies are useless.”
McDonald’s Is Actively Seeking Long Term Solutions
“We have a team actively working on long-term solutions to keep things simple and fair for customers,” the spokesperson continues. “This is an issue affecting all retailers across the country, and we will continue to work with the federal government to obtain guidance on this matter going forward.” The company recognizes this is temporary chaos until a national standard emerges.
The company notes that restaurants may ask customers to use exact change or cashless payment options like credit/debit or its app, where they can unlock a variety of national and local deals. McDonald’s isn’t alone in wrestling with this problem. NRF surveyed its membership on how they are responding to the growing shortage, and key findings revealed that retailers are taking a variety of actions to mitigate shortage issues and continue to serve cash-paying customers. Businesses are deploying efficient coin management strategies as it becomes more difficult to obtain pennies from banks and armored carrier services. Preparations for point-of-sale system updates, employee training and consumer awareness efforts are also underway. Retailers that are already out of pennies at store locations are rounding cash transactions in the customer’s favor for the time being to avoid customer friction and potential litigation risks.
What This Means for Your Next McDonald’s Run
Next time you pull up to the drive-thru with a handful of cash, just know the rules have changed. As pennies phase out, businesses are likely to round cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents, resulting in a “rounding tax.” Using data from the 2023 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, we estimate that rounding tax could cost U.S. consumers approximately $6 million annually. Individually, that works out to basically nothing per transaction, but it adds up nationally.
The transition is happening whether we like it or not. Though the penny will remain legal tender, everyday cash transactions may increasingly resemble McDonald’s policy, with retailers rounding to the nearest nickel when pennies are unavailable. I know it sounds crazy, but this is the reality we’re heading toward. If you prefer exact change, switching to card or app payments guarantees precision. Otherwise, embrace the minor fluctuations and remember that sometimes those couple cents work in your favor.