NEW ORLEANS — Rouses Markets announced Thursday that it will begin phasing out pennies as the United States winds down production of the one-cent coin.

The grocery chain says once each store’s penny supply runs out, it will start a new rounding policy for cash transactions — one that benefits customers.

If a customer is owed 91 cents in change, Rouses will round up and return 95 cents. If the total comes to 47 cents, the customer will get 50.

“Our customers are always our top priority,” said Donny Rouse, third-generation CEO of Rouses Markets. “Rounding up is the simplest, fairest way to handle this change so customers never come up short.”

Rouses says pennies will still be accepted as payment.

Credit, debit, EBT, and mobile payments won’t be affected — only cash transactions involvin

See Full Page