The other day at a bodega off West Fourth Street, I watched the cashier point to a handwritten sign that read, “NO PENNIES. CASH TOTALS ROUNDED.” My friend tapped her phone to pay and moved on without thinking twice. The woman in front of us, however, counting crumpled singles and quarters, hesitated before handing over her last dollar. It was a small moment, but it revealed exactly who would feel the absence of the penny most.
Last month, the U.S. Mint officially stopped producing pennies after 232 years, citing cost production issues — it costs about 3.8 cents for the bureau to make just one. Now, Congress is reviewing the aptly named Common Cents Act, which would require all purchases nationwide to be rounded to the nearest nickel.
Keeping the penny never made economic sense. For the past decade, the U.S. Mint has lost tens of millions of dollars annually producing a coin that only around 31% of people actually use. On top of that, a convenience store trade group found that pennies add around 2.5 seconds to every cash transaction. For New Yorkers who live in an urban environment that thrives on convenience, wasted time is an unacceptable caveat.
While the government sees rounding as an easy fix to this new change, the switch isn’t as simple for individual Americans — especially for the less fortunate, for whom every cent counts. About 8% of New York households are unbanked, meaning residents do not have their own checking or savings accounts, which is almost double the 2023 national average of 4.2%. Those unbanked are disproportionately low-income, Black, Hispanic and disabled — and because of access issues, cash is often their default. A few cents on each purchase may sound trivial to students on a $3,000 meal plan, but it adds up for those who depend on paying for groceries, laundry and MetroCards in cash every week.
Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond warn that rounding up can function like a small rounding tax if stores systematically round up more than they round down. While one cent isn’t a lot at face value, if that pattern holds in New York, the cost of a missing penny won’t show up as just a small fee, but will quietly drain a few dollars every month from the bank accounts of those who can least afford it. This is no measly change for those who count on every singular dollar to make it through each month.
At NYU, the penny — and in many ways, cash as a whole — has been dead for years. Dining halls and other on-campus food establishments employ tap-to-pay methods. None of us are digging through our wallets for coins at Upstein, but when taking a look at local businesses near campus, the city tells a different story: Many laundromats operate on a cash-only basis, and do local halal carts and even some restaurants.
So while students might see the death of the penny as something to shrug off, groups focused on mutual aid and financial literacy should advocate for those who frequently use cash. Petition for the university to expand access to low-fee bank accounts and financial counseling — because the people who will feel the penny’s absence most aren’t the ones whose Venmo handles are printed on student club flyers.
Retiring the penny was the right call. But if New York City lets rounding policies develop through a patchwork of register signs and corporate memos, people will begin to feel it. We can treat the end of the penny as an opportunity instead: to design fair, transparent rules for cash transactions and to finally take seriously the financial lives of the New Yorkers for whom every cent still counts.
New York City can take steps to proactively address this issue in support of its most vulnerable residents. Bodega owners shouldn’t have to accept accountability for decisions made by the government that inadvertently affect the less fortunate. Instead, the New York City Council must implement transparent rounding rules and require straightforward, multilingual signage across businesses as a uniform response to the change. For many New Yorkers, the change might be the difference between having enough to buy a bodega sandwich for lunch or a pack of diapers for their children.
WSN’s Opinion desk strives to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented in the Opinion desk are solely the views of the writer.
Contact Sania Mehta at opinion@nyunews.com.
This story Opinion: With the penny dead, NYC can’t forget about those who rely on cash appeared first on Washington Square News.
