MERCHANTS AND BANKERS SEEK PENNY GUIDANCE

Burger King operator Gary Andrzejewski isn't waiting around. The armored car service he uses recently cut off his penny deliveries, so Andrzejewski is stockpiling them, asking employees to pick up rolls when any of them head to the bank.

Andrzejewski's company now has 30 boxes of pennies squirreled away. If he's lucky, the stash will get his Baltimore-area locations through two months of transactions.

"I don't think anyone has any idea of what they are doing right now," Andrzejewski said.

Holly Elizabeth Tinervin was stunned to find a sign in a Decatur, Ill., Burger King warning of their penny shortage, and that checks would be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel. Her large coffee, normally $2.23, ended up costing $2.25.

Tinervin let the difference slide, but is no longer sure if she supports the penny's elimination.

"I was actually shocked by this," the 56-year-old retiree said. "I heard the government saying they were going to get rid of them, I just didn't think it would be so soon."

Tennessean Britany Moss was fuming at the government for not coming up with a penny plan when she discovered a local Panda Express was asking customers to make exact change or use a card as the coins ran dry.

Trade groups are sounding alarms.

In a September letter, nine associations representing retailers and restaurants begged Congress to take a stand on rounding. At least 10 states and localities have rules on rounding and other cash-management practices, putting businesses in a tough spot as one-cent increments become harder—and likely impossible soon—to pull off in cash.

"Our members need clear and expedited guidelines and relief," the groups wrote.

The American Bankers Association has established a "Penny Work Group," and is pleading with the Federal Reserve to accept pennies deposited at local facilities again after it stopped doing so, limiting circulation.

Roughly half of the 165 operating terminals that hold and distribute coins have stopped circulating pennies in the past two months. Some large banks are now shipping the coins to branches that have run out. But that gets costly quickly: $1,000 worth of the pennies weigh roughly 500 pounds.

America last phased out a coin roughly 170 years ago, when it got rid of the half-cent. "We don't have a lot of experience with this," said Steve Kenneally, the association's senior vice president of payments.

To read the complete article, see:
Burger King Braces for the Demise of the Penny (https://www.wsj.com/business/burger-king-braces-for-the-demise-of-the-penny-967e00c5)

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