Penny Elimination

Updated March 2026

Products:	Commander, Ruby2, Topaz XL, C18, Commander16.
Trademark Notice:	Verifone, Commander, Ruby2, C18, and Topaz XL are trademarks of Verifone, Inc. All other registered trademarks or brand names are the properties of their respective holders.

Overview

The U.S. Treasury has stopped producing new pennies, and the Federal Reserve Bank’s supply of pennies is steadily declining. As a result, the Federal Government has issued guidance to round to the nearest nickel. Merchants may wish to round transactions either up or down to the nearest five cents based on their local laws and customer satisfaction objectives.

This bulletin is an update to the original 1125_002 Penny Elimination – Background & Merchant Guidance Rev 3. The product code has been updated to include 0949 - MISC NEGATIVE ADMIN where applicable.

Details

Current Impact on Verifone Systems

• No federally mandated rounding policy exists as of March 2026.

• Verifone is adding automated rounding support to Commander software, starting with maintenance releases in 55.02, 56.03, and major release 57.xx.

• POS transactions will continue to calculate and display exact totals.

• Some limited manual solutions exist.

Monitoring & Updates

Verifone is engaged with NACS and is monitoring Treasury, Federal Reserve, and Congressional activity regarding penny elimination. If official rounding requirements are enacted, Verifone will issue:

• Compliance instructions.

• Software guidance (when functionality is added).

• Training materials for contractors and merchants.

Merchant Questions About Penny Elimination

• Clarify that while the Treasury has stopped minting pennies and supplies are limited, there is no official federal rounding law yet. However, the Federal Government has issued guidance to round to the nearest nickel.

• Any rounding practices are a merchant-level decision until regulations are passed either locally or federally.

Merchants Running Out of Pennies

Suggest alternatives such as:

• Using nickels, dimes, or higher denominations to provide change.

• Implementing a temporary store-level rounding policy (e.g., rounding down in the customer’s favor).

Recommend that merchants:

• Create a written store policy and train cashiers for consistent application.

• Post clear signage at the register for customers.

• Create a written store policy and train cashiers for consistent application.

• Post clear signage at the register for customers.

Recordkeeping

• Commander receipts will continue to show exact totals.

• Merchants using rounding should track policies for reconciliation and accounting purposes.

• Commander reports using the manual solution discussed below will show specific department totals for round up/down tracking.

Manual Solution Options

Sites that need to enact a rounding policy can utilize Departments and PLUs to account for rounding.

Round to Nearest Policy

Create a Department

Description	PLU Round Up	Product Code	0999 - MISCELLANEOUS ADMIN
Min. Amount (Optional)	0.01	Max. Amount (Optional)	0.04
Negative Dept	No	Quantity Limit (Optional)	1

• Do not apply any Taxes, Fees, ID checks, or Blue Laws

• Do not allow Food Stamps (unless SNAP customers are required to round)

Create a Negative Department

Description	PLU Round Down	Product Code	0949 - MISC NEGATIVE ADMIN
Min. Amount (Optional)	0.00	Max. Amount (Optional)	0.04
Negative Dept	Yes	Quantity Limit (Optional)	1

• Do not apply any Taxes, Fees, ID checks, or Blue Laws

• Do not allow Food Stamps (unless SNAP customers are required to round)

Create PLUs

#	PLU #	PLU Description	PLU Price	Department
1		Penny Rnd Up 2	0.02	PLU Round Up
2		Penny Rnd Up 1	0.01	PLU Round Up
3		Penny Rnd Dn 1	0.01	PLU Round Down
4		Penny Rnd Dn 2	0.02	PLU Round Down

If you are creating this policy for a base that is base 55.00 and lower, reference the Pre-base 55.01 Solution

Create Penny Round Nearest Menu (Expanded)

Menu Position	PLU	Menu Item Display Name/Description	Price
1	Penny Rnd Dn 1	End in 1	- 0.01
2	Penny Rnd Dn 2	End in 2	-0.02
3	Penny Rnd Up 2	End in 3	0.02
4	Penny Rnd Up 1	End in 4	0.01
5	Penny Rnd Dn 1	End in 6	- 0.01
6	Penny Rnd Dn 2	End in 7	-0.02
7	Penny Rnd Up 2	End in 8	0.02
8	Penny Rnd Up 1	End in 9	0.01

Always Round Down Policy

Create a Negative Department

Description	PLU Round Down	Product Code	0949 - MISC NEGATIVE ADMIN
Min. Amount (Optional)	0.00	Max. Amount (Optional)	0.04
Negative Dept	Yes	Quantity Limit (Optional)	1

• Do not apply any Taxes, Fees, ID checks, or Blue Laws

• Do not allow Food Stamps (unless SNAP customers are required to round)

Create PLUs

#	PLU #	PLU Description	PLU Price	Department
1		Penny Rnd Dn 1	0.01	PLU Round Down
2		Penny Rnd Dn 2	0.02	PLU Round Down
3		Penny Rnd Dn 3	0.03	PLU Round Down
4		Penny Rnd Dn 4	0.04	PLU Round Down

If you are creating this policy for a base that is base 55.00 and lower, reference the Pre-base 55.01 Solution

Create a Penny Round Down Menu (Expanded)

Menu Position	PLU	Menu Item Display Name/Description	Price
1	Penny Rnd Dn 1	End in 1	- 0.01
2	Penny Rnd Dn 2	End in 2	-0.02
3	Penny Rnd Dn 3	End in 3	-0.03
4	Penny Rnd Dn 4	End in 4	-0.04
5	Penny Rnd Dn 1	End in 6	-0.01
6	Penny Rnd Dn 2	End in 7	-0.02
7	Penny Rnd Dn 3	End in 8	-0.03
8	Penny Rnd Dn 4	End in 9	-0.04

Always Penny Rnd Up Policy

Create a Department

Description	PLU Round Up	Product Code	0999 - MISCELLANEOUS ADMIN
Min. Amount (Optional)	0.01	Max. Amount (Optional)	0.04
Negative Dept	No	Quantity Limit (Optional)	1

• Do not apply any Taxes, Fees, ID checks, or Blue Laws

• Do not allow Food Stamps (unless SNAP customers are required to round)

Create PLUs

#	PLU #	PLU Description	PLU Price	Department
1		Penny Rnd Up 4	0.04	PLU Round Up
2		Penny Rnd Up 3	0.03	PLU Round Up
3		Penny Rnd Up 2	0.02	PLU Round Up
4		Penny Rnd Up 1	0.01	PLU Round Up

If you are creating this policy for a base that is base 55.00 and lower, reference the Pre-base 55.01 Solution

Create a Penny Rnd Up Menu (Expanded)

Menu Position	PLU	Menu Item Display Name/Description	Price
1	Penny Rnd Up 4	End in 1	0.04
2	Penny Rnd Up 3	End in 2	0.03
3	Penny Rnd Up 2	End in 3	0.02
4	Penny Rnd Up 1	End in 4	0.01
5	Penny Rnd Up 4	End in 6	0.04
6	Penny Rnd Up 3	End in 7	0.03
7	Penny Rnd Up 2	End in 8	0.02
8	Penny Rnd Up 1	End in 9	0.01

• Add the Menu to the POS register screen for easy access

Limitation

Split Tender transactions need to be handled separately since you can not add another line item to a partially paid transaction. A separate transaction may be created to account for the additional cents you rounded up or down.

POS Operation

1. Ring up items.

2. Press Total if Necessary

3. Note the last digit of the Amount Due Example: $12.49

4. Press the Rounding Menu (up/down/nearest)

5. Choose the correct option given the last number in step 3. Example: “End in 9” to round down 4¢ or Penny Rnd Up 1¢ depending on configuration.

6. Use the appropriate Cash Tender.

Example Screens

Other Alternatives

Department Buttons on Touchscreen

Another alternative to setting up PLUs on a negative or positive department is to create a touchscreen button for Round Down or Round Up departments, where cashiers can enter specific amounts between 0.01 and 0.04. If this method is used, it is suggested to provide a table or chart to the cashier so they know when to round up and/or round down.

PLU Buttons on Touchscreen

Individual buttons for the Penny Rnd Dn or Penny Rnd Up PLUs can be added to the touchscreen without having to add them to a menu.

Creating an MOP

Users can also create an MOP with the following settings. This may be better for split transactions, but it doesn’t have the same level of control as Departments, PLUs, or Menus. There is no limit to how many times the MOP may be used.

Name	Round Down	MOP Code	00 – CASH
Minimum Amount	0.01	Maximum Amount	0.04
Limit	0.00	Tender Amount Required	Checked
Allow Refund	Checked

Pre-base 55.01 Solution

Applications that are pre-base 55.01 do not have the ability to edit the Menu items. The description is pulled from the PLU name. In these cases, we suggest creating a separate screen and assigning these PLUs to it. Below is an example of the round nearest setup.

• Create a new item panel called Penny Round.

• Add PLUs for round up or round down.

• Rename lines 1and 2 to end in x and the amount + or -

• Add the Panel to a new screen called Penny Round

• Add the screen to the registers.