If your McDonald’s bill seems like it’s a few cents off, there may be a reason why.
Some McDonald’s restaurants across the country will start rounding cash payment totals to the nearest five cents as the U.S. Treasury’s decision to stop producing pennies creates change shortages.
News of this change first came to customers’ attention on Oct. 25 after a customer posted a notice seen at a Chicago McDonald’s to the McDonald’s subreddit.
The notice explained that, due to penny production being halted, that specific location would round cash change to the nearest nickel for customers who paid in cash.
The rounding policy works as follows:
- Totals ending in 1 or 2 cents will be rounded down to 0.
- Totals ending in 3 or 4 cents will be rounded up to 5 cents.
- Totals ending in 6 or 7 cents will round down to 5 cents.
- Totals ending in 8 or 9 cents will round up to 10 cents.
The policy does not apply to those paying with credit, debit, gift cards, or other cashless methods.
A McDonald’s spokesperson confirmed this policy to TODAY.com, stating, “Following the discontinuation of pennies nationwide, some McDonald’s locations may not be able to provide exact change,”
They added: “We have a team actively working on long-term solutions to keep things simple and fair for customers,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to work with the federal government to obtain guidance on this matter going forward.”
The penny shortage stems from President Donald Trump’s February directive to the Treasury Department to halt new penny production due to rising costs. In May, the department had placed its final order for penny blanks. Other countries, including Canada and Australia, have implemented similar rounding policies after discontinuing their lowest-value coins.
McDonald’s new policy has sparked debate online, with some customers questioning why it has been implemented if pennies remain in circulation.
“Not sure how this is legal because a penny owed is still a penny owed,” wrote one Reddit user.
Another commenter said: “There are still 114 billion pennies in circulation. There is no shortage of pennies. We just need to use the pennies that are in our piggy banks.”
It’s unclear how many McDonald’s locations will adopt this new policy.
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