ABOVE: Amber Steelman is one of several cashiers at Casey’s, which is one of the businesses in Fairmont struggling with a shortage of pennies. The plan is to round change given up to the nearest nickel on cash purchases.

FAIRMONT – With the last penny minted on Wednesday, officials in Fairmont are keeping an eye on a penny shortage and what it would mean for the community.

Pennies will still be legal and usable tender, but with pennies no longer being produced, it will become increasingly difficult to distribute a finite supply everywhere they would normally be used.

Profinium Chief Banking Officer Ian Bents said they get pennies for use through a correspondent bank, from which Profinium orders currency.

“The currency arrives through a Brinks truck, and we forecast what our forward-looking needs are, whether it’s cash bills or change.”

Regarding the penny’s production, Bents said they have been well aware the penny’s production cost has been monitored by the current national government.

“The expense of production has basically outweighed what it’s worth,” he said. “The latest numbers were showing it costs about three and a half to four cents to make a penny. As they continue to monitor their fiscal responsibility, that’s become more apparent; they’re looking at making some changes.”

Looking over the situation currently, Bents said he doesn’t believe the real impact has been seen yet.

“At that [impact] point, then I can see the supply running low,” he said. “We’re going to see businesses adjust how they’re doing their billing, or how their change is calculated, whether they’re rounding up to the nearest nickel, or however they choose to do that.”

As for Profinium itself, Bents said they are still in conversations with their correspondent bank about penny availability.

“I had a discussion with them [Monday] about it,” he said. “It’s not necessarily something that’s front and center at this point. There really isn’t a playbook for this. Discontinuing currency, especially one like the penny that’s been so frequently used. This is a little bit new territory, but definitely something that’ll be planned and executed in the future here as it winds down.”

While change can be scary, Bents said the bulk of bank clients use debit cards, which are unaffected by this change. He believes the biggest impact will be seen in how change is calculated.

For those who have concerns, Bents said they should reach out to their local bank for information and clarification.

“We have a lot of great community banks in Martin County and in Fairmont,” he said. “We’re very fortunate for that, all filled with good, experienced bankers. Instead of getting lost in the national news, go connect with your local bank that you already trust with your finances and connect with them.”

Some local businesses are already starting to feel the shortage. Casey’s recently placed signs on their registers informing people of the shortage and their potential inability to provide exact change moving forward. Casey’s Fairmont Manager Jesse Mitchell said he had heard news regarding penny production, but they only found out recently about the issue affecting them.

“The armored truck comes once a week,” he said. “Last week is when we finally tried ordering pennies from our place, and they don’t have pennies any more.”

To counteract this, Mitchell said Casey’s stores will now round up to the nearest nickel for customer change as a company-wide policy.

“Let’s say a customer’s transaction is, we owe them $1.71,” he said. “Of course, we don’t have pennies. We’re going to round it up to the nearest nickel. It’ll be $1.75.”

In his experience going around town, Mitchell said they are one of the first to deal with an issue like this. He said customers have reached out about donating pennies, but Mitchell says it would require more work than it’s worth, and they’re open to embracing this new future.

“I just think people really don’t want pennies,” he said. “A lot of people, you give their pennies back and they just throw them in our penny dish. I think that’ll be good. I do know that, like Casey’s and everybody else, they’re gonna have to change their labels on stuff. That way, when we bring it up, instead of saying $1.71, it’ll say $1.75, either raise or lower their prices.”

As for the humble penny dish itself, Mitchell said they’re not sure what to do with it as the namesake goes slightly by the wayside.

While they still have some now, Mitchell predicted that by sometime next week, they will be all out of pennies and will start the rounding-up process.