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As the penny gets phased out, Washington gets ready to round
With the penny slowly being counted out, lawmakers in Washington are working on a bill that would require businesses to round cash transactions to the nearest nickel.
OLYMPIA, Wash. - With the penny slowly being "counted out," lawmakers in Washington state are working on a bill that would require businesses to round cash purchases to the nearest nickel.
The proposed workaround might come in handy as people find pennies harder to come by.
At least one business we talked with said they've been running out.
Local perspective:
Step in to Two Kick Coffee on Queen Anne and the orders just keep coming.
"[We have] a really good nitro cold brew, and we offer a spicy mocha, and so, there are people who come here specifically for one of those two things, because you can't get them everywhere," said June, the manager at Two Kick Coffee.
They said there's something the coffee shop is having a hard time finding, too.
"Because most of the time, pennies are going out of here rather than coming in, we are currently just out of pennies altogether right now," June said.
This comes as new pennies are no longer being made and falling out of circulation.
Big picture view:
Lawmakers in Olympia are developing a standardized workaround in Senate Bill 6230.
The plan is to require businesses to round the final total of a purchase when someone pays with cash to avoid pennies.
They'd round down if the total ends in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents. They'd round up if the total ends in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents.
Bottom line — lawmakers want the final price to be divisible by a nickel.
This all only applies to cash, not your card, by check, or any other non-cash payment.
What they're saying:
"It's always check in with the customer first, you know? And you always try to do it in their favor, but if we were to go forward with a more specific rounding system, I certainly wouldn't mind that," June said.
Unlike Two Kick Coffee, some businesses we talked with told us it's no problem because they don't take cash at all.
"We do like having cash as an option. I think that customers appreciate having cash as an option here," June said.
They said some customers have even offered to bring in their own coin jars to help them out with change, showing the real currency here is community.
"I think the vibe is just really relaxed. I think that you know that the people taking care of you down at the bar care about you as a person and not just as a transaction," June said.
Lawmakers said the bill has advanced out of committee.
To put all of this in perspective, the U.S. Treasury said over the last decade, the production cost of a penny rose from 1.3 cents to 3.69 cents per penny. Officials said stopping penny production will mean an immediate annual savings of $56 million.
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The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Dan Griffin.