The countdown is over. Following the U.S. Mint's final production run in late 2025, the "Penny Gap" of 2026 has arrived. For food retailers, this isn't just a minor inconvenience in the coin drawer; it is a significant threat to thin profit margins and a potential compliance nightmare.
The True Cost of "Keep the Change"
Many retailers believe that rounding to the nearest nickel is a harmless fix. However, recent data from the National Restaurant Association and NACS (The Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing) tells a different story.
Monthly Industry Drain
The National Restaurant Association estimates that prolonged "rounding down" costs the industry monthly.
Major Retailer Impact
Kwik Trip's policy of always rounding down costs the chain approximately $3 million per year.
Pre-Tax Margins
In an industry with razor-thin margins, these lost cents represent a direct hit to the bottom line.
The SNAP Compliance Trap:
Under the USDA SNAP "Equal Treatment Rule" (7 C.F.R. § 278.2(b)), retailers are legally required to treat SNAP customers the same as cash customers. If your rounding policy creates a price discrepancy between a cash payer and an EBT user, you risk federal fines or even disqualification from the SNAP program.
A Digital Solution to a Physical Problem
At UniSight, we believe retailers shouldn't have to choose between losing money and losing their SNAP certification. We've digitized the classic "Give a Penny, Take a Penny" jar through our exclusive onePay application on GroPOS terminals.
Our digital jar offers a seamless, compliant way to bridge the gap without forcing the retailer to eat the cost of rounding.
How It Works
1. Contextual Logic
The onePay app only triggers a prompt when cash change is due. If a customer pays with SNAP or a split-payment where no cash change is required, the system remains silent—maintaining perfect 1:1 compliance with real-time transaction monitoring.
2. The Digital Choice
For cash transactions, the customer sees a prompt on the POS terminal asking if they wish to take their pennies or "leave them in the jar."
3. The Community Jar
If a customer is short a few cents, they can choose to "Take a Penny" from a digital community pool funded by previous surpluses.
4. Automatic Protection
If the customer does not interact with the screen, the system defaults to giving them their exact change, ensuring the retailer never unilaterally alters a transaction total.
5. Giving Back
Any surplus remaining in the digital jar is donated to a charity of the retailer's choice from a vetted UniSight list, turning a logistics headache into a powerful community impact story.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is the penny still legal tender?
Yes. While the U.S. Mint has ceased production, existing pennies remain legal tender. However, as they fall out of circulation and banks stop fulfilling penny orders, retailers will find it increasingly difficult to provide exact physical change.
How does this help me stay SNAP compliant?
The USDA requires that SNAP customers are not "discriminated against" with different pricing. By using onePay, the item prices never change. We are simply providing a digital mechanism for the transactional change due. Because the system defaults to "Give Change" if the user does not opt-in to the charity jar, the customer is never forced into a price change, keeping you within the "Equal Treatment" safe harbor.
Does UniSight take a cut of the donated pennies?
No. 100% of the surplus pennies collected in the digital jar go directly to the charity selected by the retailer. UniSight provides the infrastructure as a value-add for our GroPOS and onePay users.
Can I choose a local charity?
Retailers can choose from a robust list of regional and national charities provided within the UniSight portal. This allows you to align your store with causes that matter most to your specific community.
The UniSight Advantage
The era of the physical penny is ending, but the need for precision is not. While other retailers are quietly losing millions to rounding errors or facing audits for SNAP non-compliance, UniSight partners are using the onePay Digital Jar to protect their margins and support local charities.
Key Benefits:
- Margin Protection: Stop losing $3-14 million annually to forced rounding policies
- SNAP Compliance: Maintain 100% Equal Treatment compliance with automatic safeguards
- Customer Choice: Empower customers to decide what happens with their change
- Community Impact: Turn a logistics problem into a powerful giving story
- Zero Friction: Seamless integration with your existing GroPOS terminal
Ready to solve the penny problem?
UniSight's onePay Digital Jar protects your margins while keeping you SNAP compliant and supporting your community.
Request a Demo