00:00The penny has gone extinct.
00:01Congress just voted on what replaces it at the register
00:04and it doesn't treat every customer the same.
00:06Here's what's happening.
00:07The Senate just passed the Common Sense Act
00:10by unanimous consent
00:11after the House passed its own version earlier this year.
00:14The bill formally ends penny production,
00:16which the government already stopped last year,
00:18so it mostly just deals with the fallout.
00:20If you pay cash in the stores out of pennies,
00:22they can now round your total to the nearest nickel.
00:25So a purchase of $19.02 rounds down to $19.
00:29But 1903 rounds up to 1905.
00:32So what happens if you're owed two cents?
00:34Well, if you're supposed to get $19.02 back,
00:37you just get $19, cause it rounds down.
00:39And if something only costs two cents,
00:41it rounds up to five cents.
00:43But this only applies to cash.
00:45Pay with a card and your total is the exact amount.
00:47The National Restaurant Association told The Hill
00:50that this bill clears up a real mess,
00:52since some states have laws making rounding unclear legally.
00:55But there is a slight wrinkle.
00:57Forbes reports that common sense doesn't address any SNAP payments,
01:01which by federal law requires food items to be offered at the same price
01:05and on the same terms as cash.
01:07With no changes to the bill,
01:09those payments would be categorized as electronic,
01:11and therefore won't see any potential benefits of a rounded-down discount
01:15that cash shoppers would receive.
01:17Forbes notes this gap is still unresolved as the bill heads towards a final vote.
01:21And those pennies in your junk drawer still count as money.
01:24There are more than 300 billion of them out there
01:27that will still be used as legal tender for the foreseeable future.
01:30And this bill is only passed in the House and Senate in separate versions,
01:33so it's not a law yet.
01:34But if it does pass, are you switching to cash?
01:37Let us know in the comments.
