McDonald’s Hit By Penny Shortage

See a penny pick it up and you’ll have all day good luck! Remember that saying? Well it really could go a long way now considering there’s a penny shortage. The U.S. Mint made its last pennies two months ago, since then Home Depot begun to run short of pennies, and now McDonald’s. Some McDonald’s locations in the U.S. have run short of pennies and have begun rounding cash transactions up or down to the nearest five cents when customers don’t have exact change.

McDonald’s said in a statement,

“Following the discontinuation of pennies nationwide, some McDonald’s locations may not be able to provide exact change.”

“We have a team actively working on long-term solutions to keep things simple and fair for customers. 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.”

USA today reports,

When a customer pays cash and doesn’t have exact change, the purchase total is rounded down by as much as two cents or up by as much two cents. So, if your lunch meal cost $12.06, for example, and you didn’t have exact change and the restaurant didn’t have pennies, you’d be charged $12.05. If your meal was $9.39, the total would be round up to $9.40.The rounding only affects cash payments – the majority of McDonald’s transactions in the U.S made by credit card or other cashless payments made in the McDonald’s app, for instance.

Restaurants may ask customers to use exact change or cashless payment options, the company said.