Common Cents

The United States made its last penny in November 2025, after 232 years, because each one cost almost four cents to make. Within a month, stores were running out. McDonald's told customers that some locations would round cash payments up or down to the nearest five cents. Giant Eagle offered to trade jars of pennies for gift cards worth double, and one man waited half an hour in line and walked out with $57.82.

Nobody told stores what to do about the three cents on a $4.98 sale, so every business that takes cash is deciding on its own. Some chains round down every time and eat the cost, because they would rather lose a few cents than argue with a customer. Others round to the nearest nickel and let it even out. Cards are not affected, but plenty of people still pay with cash, and they are the ones who notice.

Your Task: Imagine you own a small store near your school that takes a lot of cash, and the register is yours to figure out.

1. The Rule
Write your store's rounding rule for cash. Always down so you eat it, always up so customers do, nearest nickel, or something nobody has tried, like ending every price in 0 or 5 so there is nothing to round. Then say who your rule favors and roughly what it costs you or your customers over a busy week. (Your rule, plus 3 sentences.)

2. The Sign
Write the sign that sits at the register and explains your rule, in words a customer can read in two seconds. Then say why you picked those words. (15 words or fewer, plus 1 sentence.)

3. The Jar
People keep showing up with jars of pennies. Invent what your store does with them, and it cannot be "we take them" or the gift-card trade from the video. Say how it works and why a customer would bother. (3 to 4 sentences.)