Stores bracing for discontinuation of pennies

Spare change trays at Toby’s Pit Stop get a lot of use, owner-manager Toby Brantley says.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people, when you give them the pennies, they’d throw them in the trays for the next person to use,” Brantley said.

Small change is about to become less small. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond website, the U.S. government is expected to stop producing new pennies for circulation in early 2026.

The Modernize and Improve our National Tender Act, authored by Oklahoma Dist. 3 Congressman Frank Lucas, calls for new production of the penny to cease. The act, which allows pennies already in circulation to be used as legal tender, passed out of congressional committee in late July to put a legislative stamp on the copper coin’s demise.

Lucas, a Cheyenne Republican, said in a media release the penny “has run its course.”

“Last year, the U.S. Mint lost $85 million from 1-cent production,” he said. “This is the 19th consecutive year the U.S. government has lost money keeping the 1-cent piece in circulation.”

Brantley said he doesn’t think discontinuation of new pennies would make much of a difference at his convenience store. He said he gets a $25 box of rolled pennies every two to three weeks from the bank. He said he could round down prices to the nearest 5 cents if his penny stock runs low.

“We could adjust our prices where it would come out, instead of $2.42, down to $2.40,” Brantley said. “It would help the customer because you’d give them the difference. ... If we owed them 4 cents, we’d give them 5 cents.”

Tulsa-based QuikTrip convenience store change is planning for a penny shortage, said Aisha Jefferson, corporate communications manager.

“We anticipate the penny shortages may begin affecting select markets within the next two to four weeks within QuikTrip,” Jefferson said. “For a change in policy, we will continue exact change whenever possible, based on our available coin inventory.”

Jefferson said QuikTrip values its coin-paying customers.

“In the absence of any federal or local mandates, we will round down to the nearest level,” she said. “When it comes to digital transactions, all electronic payments will continue to be processed as the exact transaction amount, with no rounding applied.”

The Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip convenience store chain changed its policies in response to the government decision. According to a Minnesota Public Radio News website, cash purchases will be rounded down to the nearest 5 cents to keep cashiers from using pennies for change.

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