McDonald's New Payment Policy May Soon Have Customers Paying Extra (If They Use Cash)

Though the U.S. Treasury officially decided to phase out penny coins this past summer, businesses nationwide are still adjusting to the landmark move. In late October, McDonald's joined the list of companies that have changed their payment policies due to penny shortages. The fast food chain will now round order prices to the nearest five cents for customers who pay in cash and do not have exact change.

McDonald's patrons noticed their local stores enacting this change as early as October 25, and the company confirmed its new policy in a statement to ABC News on October 30. The restaurant explained that a lack of pennies will make it difficult for all locations to give change down to the exact cent. "We have a team actively working on long-term solutions to keep things simple and fair for customers," McDonald's stated. "This is an issue affecting all retailers across the country, and we will continue to work with the federal government to obtain guidance on this matter going forward."

On the positive side, McDonald's new way of dealing with change will not affect customers paying with credit or debit cards, and patrons may save a few cents if their order price is rounded down instead of up. The restaurant is also hardly an overpriced fast food chain, and the rounding will only apply to customer change, with base menu prices staying the same. However, the news has still garnered a very mixed reception among fans.

Early customer reactions to this McDonald's news can be seen in a Reddit post from October. The original poster photographed a sign at their local restaurant explaining the new payment practice. Several Canadian commenters shared their opinions, as Canada discontinued its penny coin equivalent in 2012, causing businesses to enact similar price-rounding rules. "It's confusing for the first few months, then you just kind of forget about it.," one Redditor wrote. "Pennies are useless."

Other users were less optimistic, predicting that the change will be confusing for McDonald's customers and workers. One commenter wrote that "people still don't understand how rounding works" in Canada, despite over a decade of living without one-cent coins. Others pointed out that cashiers usually have to round change up or down, rather than the register system doing so automatically. A skeptical commenter said, "If the cash register doesn't automatically do it, the workers will never figure it out."

Yet more internet denizens are quite unhappy to potentially lose a few cents at McDonald's, with some even calling the practice stealing. This is the latest in a string of pricing controversies at the chain, as McDonald's new value meal prices left fans underwhelmed this past fall, and its expensive McDonaldland meal also made customers angry. However, the company may be wise in enacting this new move far before pennies become extremely sparse, giving customers and employees plenty of time to get used it.