The Penny stops here:

Are you ready for the February 4th Phase out?

Important information for retailers from the association that speaks ONLY for retail business in Canada

Effective February 4th the penny will be gradually phased out of circulation in Canada. RCC understands the impact this change will have on your business and has collected resources for use in store.

At the request of Retail Council of Canada the Government of Canada has produced notices that can be posted at point of sale to educate consumers about the phase out. Click here for the resource homepage.

Prepare your team. Download a bilingual version of the flyer and place it at the cash desk.
(English | French)

RCC has produced a FAQ document, based on member questions, that you can use in your store to answer your staff or consumer questions.

Get the facts.
The government has released rounding guidelines that you can implement in your business.
Address the following two factors with your staff:

  1. When do we round?

    2. Only cash transactions where exact change is not available require rounding. Cheques and transactions using electronic payments—debit, credit and payments cards—do not need to be rounded, because they can be settled electronically to the exact amount. For any cash payment, only the final amount (or equivalently, the change owed) should be subject to rounding. Individual items, as well as any duties, fees or taxes, should be tabulated in their exact amount prior to rounding, as illustrated:
    A 1 dollar and 83 cent coffee and a 2 dollar and 86 cent sandwich would cost 4 dollars and 92 cents after the 5 percent Goods and Services Tax. If the customer chooses to pay by cheque, credit card or debit card, no rounding is applied and the final payment is 4 dollars and 92 cents. However, if the customer pays with cash, the final total is rounded down 2 cents to a final payment of 4 dollars and 90 cents.
       Source: Department of Finance Canada

  2. How does our business round?

    This is a decision that all business owners and operators will need to make based on their unique needs. However, The Government of Canada is adopting a rounding guideline that has been used successfully by other countries for cash transactions with the public. Under this guideline, when pennies are not available, cash transactions are rounded in a fair and transparent manner, as illustrated below:

       Source: Department of Finance

    You can also view a text version of the government rounding rules here.

RCC has reached out to its members to ask about their plans for the February 4th implementation.

Please click here to take our survey (English | French).

Click here for results of penny phase out survey

Still have questions?

FAQs from the Government of Canada:

RCC is the voice of retail for the phase out of the penny.

credit card

RCC has reached out to its members to ask about their plans for the February 4th implementation.

View the survey results.