The penny may still be legal tender, but Florida is getting ready for life without it at the cash register.<\/p>\n
A bill passed by the Florida Legislature and sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis would allow businesses to round certain in-person cash transactions to the nearest nickel now that the one-cent coin is no longer being produced for circulation.<\/p>\n
For Key Biscayne shoppers, the change would be small – literally – but noticeable.<\/p>\n
How the rounding would work<\/p>\n
Cash totals ending in:<\/p>\n
1 or 2 cents \u2192 round down to 0<\/p>\n
Example: $10.02 becomes $10.00<\/p>\n
3 or 4 cents \u2192 round up to 5<\/p>\n
Example: $10.04 becomes $10.05<\/p>\n
6 or 7 cents \u2192 round down to 5<\/p>\n
Example: $10.07 becomes $10.05<\/p>\n
8 or 9 cents \u2192 round up to 10<\/p>\n
Example: $10.09 becomes $10.10<\/p>\n
0 or 5 cents \u2192 no rounding<\/p>\n
The bill applies only to cash transactions. Card and digital payments would remain exact.<\/p>\n
Under CS\/SB 1074<\/a>, a cash total ending in 1 or 2 cents could be rounded down. A total ending in 3 or 4 cents could be rounded up to 5 cents. A total ending in 6 or 7 cents could be rounded down to 5 cents. A total ending in 8 or 9 cents could be rounded up to 10 cents. Totals already ending in 0 or 5 cents would not change.<\/p>\n The bill does not apply to most popular payment methods. Credit cards, debit cards, checks, gift cards, money orders, electronic funds transfers and most mixed-payment transactions would continue to be processed to the exact cent.<\/p>\n The bill also makes clear that the rounding would not change the sales price, sales tax, surcharges, assessments or fees on a purchase. Those amounts would still be calculated first. The rounding would come at the end, only when cash is involved.<\/p>\n The practical effect for island residents may depend on how often they still use cash.<\/p>\n At smaller restaurants like Subway, caf\u00e9s like Lighthouse Caf\u00e9, pharmacies like Key Pharmacy and Ethos, markets like The Golden Hog and service counters along Crandon Boulevard and elsewhere in the Village, the change could show up on receipts and in change drawers.<\/p>\n For businesses, the adjustment may involve point-of-sale systems, cashier training and customer explanations.<\/p>\n Supporters say<\/a> symmetrical rounding should balance out over time, with some totals rounded down and others rounded up. Federal Treasury guidance<\/a> has also said non-cash transactions should continue to be priced and processed to the exact cent.<\/p>\n The bill comes after the U.S. Mint ended production<\/a> of circulating pennies in November 2025, citing the cost of producing the coin and changes in how Americans pay. Existing pennies remain legal tender and can still be used.<\/p>\n CS\/SB 1074<\/a> passed the Senate 36-0 and the House 111-1<\/a>. If signed by DeSantis, or allowed to become law without his signature, the measure would take effect immediately.<\/p>\n For most customers, the change may amount to only a few cents. But for Key Biscayne and Florida businesses, it creates a statewide rule for a question that is already arriving at the counter: what happens when there are no pennies left to give?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The penny may still be legal tender, but Florida is getting ready for life without it at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111129,111123,28,30,100,29,111126,126,111125,111130,111127,111128,412,12021,89027,111124],"class_list":["post-255566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-cash-transactions","tag-cs-sb-1074","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-legislature","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-one-cent-bill","tag-key-biscayne","tag-one-cent-piece","tag-pennies-legal-tender","tag-penny-law","tag-penny-rounding","tag-ron-desantis","tag-sales-tax","tag-sb-1074","tag-us-mint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}