The penny is out. Experts weigh in on what it means for consumers |

After a run of more than 230 years, the U.S. is done producing the penny. While the death of the little copper coin leaves many feeling nostalgic, producing it simply isn’t worth it for the U.S. Mint at 3.69 cents a pop — an increase of 1.42 cents over the last decade. 

While some consumers are lamenting the loss, many are left wondering: Will there be any tangible impacts on the economy? Will the nickel become the new penny? We reached out to folks on both sides of the coin (pun intended) to answer these questions.

Will things be more expensive without the penny?

Some say the “rounding tax” will hurt consumers

While billions of pennies are still in circulation, you may have noticed some changes already. When consumers pay in cash, some stores are opting to symmetrically round the total up or down to the nearest nickel. Symmetric rounding to the nearest nickel works as follows:

• Purchases with final digits of 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents are rounded down.
• Purchases with final digits of 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents are rounded up.
• Purchases ending in 0 or 5 cents are not rounded.

For example, a total of $1.98 or $1.99 would be rounded up to $2, whereas $1.96 or $1.97 would be rounded down to $1.95. McDonald’s, for example, has already begun symmetrically rounding up or down in some locations when pennies aren’t available for exact change. 

An analysis by the Richmond Federal Reserve found that transactions are statistically more likely to end in a number that gets rounded up, and therefore rounding to the nearest nickel “may indeed result in a net cost to consumers” of around $6 million annually.

Mark Weller, executive director of pro-penny group Americans for Common Cents, has advocated on behalf of retaining the coin for years. He agrees with the assertion that price rounding cannot be done fairly. “Consumers will be hit with a ‘rounding tax’ without the penny,” he said before a Congressional subcommittee in 2012, adding that there’s no incentive for businesses to set prices in a way that would lead to rounding down.

Others say the impact will be negligible

Robert Whaples is an economics professor at Wake Forest University who’s written as far back as 2007 in favor of eliminating pennies, citing the high cost of minting them. What’s more, his research regarding rounding has turned up different results from those of the Richmond Fed.

In a 2025 report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta released findings from a study that concluded that “the cash inflationary impact is negligible” when symmetrical rounding is at play.  This rounding rule was adopted by Canadian merchants when Canada eliminated its penny in 2012, and reports say there’s no evidence of triggered inflation.

One caveat: There are no official rounding rules in the United States, so the process could vary among merchants, leading to different results. That said, federal legislation — known as the Common Cents Act — is pending that would create a symmetric rounding standard.

Some retailers have already started rounding down consistently when they don’t have enough pennies to make change. Whaples’ local grocery store, Harris Teeter, has begun doing this, “only in the customer’s favor,” he tells Bankrate. Other retailers that have begun always rounding down — or recommending that their franchisees always round down — include Kwik Trip, Wendy’s, Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon, according to reports.

How consumers can avoid a rounding tax

If you’re concerned about paying higher prices due to rounding, consider making electronic payments whenever possible. While electronic payment methods aren’t always feasible for everyone, they’re not expected to be affected by rounding. According to the Richmond Fed, “electronic payments (such as credit and debit card transactions) will remain unaffected and continue to be processed at exact amounts.”

Will the nickel be next?

Now that the penny is gone, will the nickel’s demise come next? The Treasury paid 13.8 cents to mint each nickel in 2024, incurring a total loss of $17.7 million, according to the Richmond Fed. That said, eliminating both nickels and pennies could cost consumers nearly $56 million per year, the Richmond Fed reports — more than nine times the cost of eliminating the penny alone.

Currently, there are no plans to nix the nickel, although a bill has been introduced in Congress to suspend its production temporarily to save taxpayers money. The Atlanta Fed writes that “in the next few years, inflation will erode the real value of the nickel, which could necessitate the elimination of the nickel coin.”

On the bright side for the Treasury, people are less likely to put nickels into their coin jars than pennies, Whaples says. This means they’re more likely to get returned to stores, and there’s less need to keep minting new ones.

“I still haven’t made up my mind on whether it’s time to eliminate the nickel,” Whaples says, adding that from an economic perspective, nickels may be more worthy of one’s time than pennies. “With average hourly earnings a little above $36, our time is worth about one penny per second. Using a penny generally wastes more than a second, but using a nickel doesn’t waste five seconds of our time.”