Paying Cash Without Pennies Is Causing Problems . . . and Now Nickels Could Change?
Paying Cash Without Pennies Is Causing Problems . . . and Now Nickels Could Change?
Remember when the government shut down production of the penny . . . because they cost MORE than a penny to produce . . . and some people wondered why we hadn’t done it sooner? Well, it opens a can of worms.
Paying in cash without regular access to pennies has been confusing . . . and some businesses have been rounding to the nearest nickel when giving change. But that doesn’t work everywhere.
Some states have existing laws that require exact change . . . or don’t allow businesses to charge more or less to some customers than others, even if it’s just a couple pennies lost to rounding. And that has led to legal issues.
So now, Congress is working to pass a bill called the “Common Cents Act” . . . which will hopefully relieve those problems.
This would allow ALL businesses the option to round cash transactions to the nearest nickel. So for example, a $19.82 purchase becomes $19.80, while $19.83 becomes $19.85. (Canada did this when it phased out its penny over a decade ago.)
The bill could also force a change to NICKELS.
Nickels are even more expensive to produce than pennies. Last year, it cost almost 14 cents to make every nickel. (Which are FIVE cents, kids.) (???)
So the government is looking for cheaper ways to make them. But that also causes problems . . . because they need to be able to be recognized in vending and counting machines, or those systems would have to be rebuilt. (So you couldn’t make them out of recycled plastic or something.)
Nothing is imminent though. The bill just calls for “testing lower-cost” nickels. Also: The bill has passed the House, but has yet to pass the Senate.
