November 19, 2025 | By: High Touch Technologies
Preparing for a Penny-Free Future
A small coin is about to create a big operational change for rent-to-own businesses.
With the U.S. preparing to retire the penny, organizations across the country, including RTO stores, will transition to rounding cash totals to the nearest nickel. Our team at High Touch Technologies is proactively building support for this change into cynergi|suite, ensuring your workflows remain smooth and predictable.
While the shift may sound simple, the impact will be felt across payment processing, customer interactions, cash management, and financial reporting. We’ve begun outlining this enhancement now, ensuring your team has the updates and support needed long before nickel rounding becomes a daily reality.
What Happens When the Penny Retires?
On November 12, 2025, the United States minted its final penny. In the coming months, many U.S. businesses are expected to transition to rounding cash totals to the nearest five cents. Card and digital payments will continue to process exact amounts, but cash transactions will move to a new rounding standard.
For RTO businesses, even a small shift like this can affect:
- Payment totals
- Drawer balancing
- Customer receipts and agreements
- Daily closeouts
- Store-level auditing
- Reporting and more
As part of this national shift, cynergi|suite will soon include built-in support for nickel rounding—removing manual calculations, reducing confusion, and helping protect financial accuracy across your business.
Why Does Nickel Rounding Matter for RTO Stores?
Rounding to the nearest nickel is mathematically simple. The operational impact, however, can be significant.
Picture your financial processes as a tightly woven system. One adjustment (in this case, how totals are calculated) pulls a single thread. If not managed properly, that single tug can ripple through the entire workflow, affecting everything from front-counter transactions to accounting audits.
Without automated rounding logic built directly into your POS:
- Staff may round inconsistently
- Customers may question discrepancies
- Cash drawers may no longer balance
- Reports may drift out of alignment
- Month-end posting may require additional reconciliation
How Will cynergi|suite Support Nickel Rounding?
We are currently in the early planning stages of this enhancement. At this point, our teams are:
- Identifying where rounding logic will be required
- Mapping potential system touchpoints
- Reviewing how nickel rounding could influence existing workflows
- Preparing to share configuration and setup details as they become available
As development progresses, we will provide clear updates, timelines, and instructions so you and your teams can prepare with confidence.
At this time, no client action is required.
What Can You Expect Moving Forward
As we continue building this enhancement, we’ll keep you informed every step of the way. You can expect advance notice before any changes go live, along with clear documentation and guidance to help your teams prepare.
Our Development, Account Executive, and Support teams will continue communicating updates as work progresses, and we’ll provide any necessary training or instructions once the enhancement is ready for release. We’re committed to making this transition as smooth as possible and ensuring you know what to expect long before nickel rounding becomes a daily reality.
Set Your Store Apart.
High Touch has served the rent-to-own industry for over 40 years, and cynergi|suite continues to evolve alongside its operational needs. As the U.S. phases out the penny, we’re preparing cynergi|suite to help your business adapt with accuracy and confidence.
If you have questions about this upcoming enhancement or would like to discuss your cynergi|suite setup, please reach out to your Account Executive—we’re here to help.