A sudden lack of pennies has prompted Erie-area businesses to creatively deal with a dearth of the copper coins.
Fast food restaurants are rounding orders to the nearest nickel, while Valu Home Centers are asking customers to pay in exact change or use their credit/debit card.
Giant Eagle is hosting an exchange Nov. 1, where people can trade their spare pennies for twice their value in a grocery store gift card. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We don’t know what to expect, in terms of customer response,” said Dan Donovan, Giant Eagle spokesman. “Approximately 200 locations are taking part, just about every one with a few exceptions.”
The penny shortage is not a surprise, since President Trump told the Treasury Department in February to stop producing the coins. It costs 3.69 cents to make a single penny, according to the U.S. Mint.
In this photo illustration, pennies are seen on a table on February 10, 2025 in New York City. President Donald Trump directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin.
The timing caught some off guard. Penny production ended sooner than some expected and the Federal Reserve stopped sending penny shipments to banks and credit unions.
“We were initially told that penny shipments from the Federal Reserve would probably stop sometime in 2026,” said Chris Cortes, Erie Federal Credit Union‘s chief operations officer. “But then the shipments stopped about a month ago.”
Banks and credit unions, in turn, notified their customers and members that they could no longer sell them pennies.
Valu Home Centers in Erie were affected in early October, said Troy Weissinger, senior district manager for the Buffalo-based chain.
“Right now, we still are able to give pennies and take pennies, but we want to educate our customers about this,” Weissinger said. “We put up signs at all 26 locations, asking customers to use exact change if they can, or use their credit or debit card.”
Giant Eagle also is able to give and receive pennies, though some locations have been forced to trade with others who have a larger supply of the coins.
The penny exchange will help restock supplies in the short term but any long-term solution will involve rounding purchases to the nearest nickel, Donovan said.
“We, like many businesses, are looking for guidance from the government about the specifics of rounding,” Donovan said.
Giant Eagles locations, including this one at 4265 Buffalo Road, will host a penny exchange Nov. 1 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers will receive twice the value of their pennies in a grocery store gift card.
How does Canada round purchases?
When Canada stopped producing its penny in 2012, the government instructed businesses to round total purchases to the nearest multiple of five cents:
Those ending with zero, one or two cents are rounded down;
Those ending with three, four, five, six and seven cents are rounded to five;
Those ending with eight or nine cents are rounded up.
“We can just push a button and purchases would be rounded up or down,” Weissinger said. “But we need some direction. If we simply round down all the time, we would take a bath. It’s only a few pennies, but they add up.”
Erie Federal Credit Union members are encouraged to bring their unwrapped pennies to one of the branches that has a coin sorter.
The pennies collected will be recycled to other members instead of being sold back to the Federal Reserve, Cortes said.
“We have been collecting pennies for the past four to five weeks,” Cortes said. “It will help us continue to provide pennies to our members, though perhaps not at the quantities some of them want.”
How Giant Eagle will handle its penny exchange
Customers planning to take their pennies to Giant Eagle should also leave them unwrapped, Donovan said. Instead of being counted, the coins will be weighed to determine how many there are.
The maximum trade is $100 worth of pennies, which will buy a $200 Giant Eagle gift card.
“At the moment, this is a one-time event,” Donovan said. “I’m eager to see what type of customer response we get.”
USA Today contributed to this story.
Contact David Bruce at dbruce@gannett.com. Follow him on X @ETNBruce.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Giant Eagle, Erie PA businesses dealing with penny shortage creatively