This is the second blog in SkillNet’s nickel rounding series, focused on helping retail teams make the right nickel rounding configuration choices as penny rounding is introduced in the United States.
In our first blog, Nickel Rounding Is Coming – Xstore Is Ready, Are You?, we discussed why penny rounding is happening, how it works, what retailers in Canada are doing, and what changes retailers can make to be ready for this change in United States cash tendering and retail POS systems.
Nickel Rounding in the U.S.: Why the Method Matters
In this follow-up, we take a closer look at the rounding methods themselves, why the choice is no longer purely a technical preference, and how emerging regulatory considerations and customer experience expectations in retail POS environments are influencing which approach retailers are choosing in practice.
New York’s Cash Pricing Law and Its Impact on POS Rounding
That landscape is beginning to change. In November, New York State passed legislation intended to ensure that customers are not charged more for using cash than for using credit or debit cards, bringing new attention to how nickel rounding is applied in U.S. retail point-of-sale systems in practice.
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2025/S4153A
For those who do not like reading legal documents, the law was put in place to make sure cash payments are still available to consumers for food vendors and retailers. The wording of the law says that a customer cannot be charged more for using cash than they would be for using credit.
When Nickel Rounding Creates a Cash vs. Card Pricing Gap
To illustrate the issue, consider a customer whose total comes to $10.04. If that customer chooses to pay with cash and the retailer is using a half-up rounding method, the total would be rounded to $10.05. A customer paying by card, however, would still pay $10.04. In this scenario, the customer ends up paying more solely because they chose to pay with cash, highlighting a cash versus card pricing discrepancy created by nickel rounding.
Under New York’s new law, that difference matters. Even a one-cent increase caused by rounding could be interpreted as charging more for a cash transaction than a credit or debit transaction, placing the retailer on the wrong side of the statute and introducing regulatory risk for retail cash payments.
The goal of the law was not to force retailers to use a certain nickel rounding method, but we can see that it is a side effect of it.
At the time this was written, there is no other state- or federal-level legislation addressing this issue. While it’s uncommon for municipalities to regulate currency handling in this much detail, that doesn’t mean local rules can’t exist. Retailers should always check with their accounting or legal teams to understand any potential risk and make sure they’re covered when configuring nickel rounding methods in retail POS systems.
What Retailers Are Choosing in Practice
SkillNet’s customers who have begun the move to nickel rounding have consistently chosen the round-down approach. The thinking is simple; it creates a better customer experience. And in retail, happy customers tend to make everything else easier down the line. This pattern is not unique to SkillNet engagements. Across early U.S. nickel rounding implementations, retailers are prioritizing customer experience and risk reduction over marginal cost differences.
Based on these factors, we recommend that retailers consider adopting the round-down method for nickel rounding. While it does result in a slightly higher cost compared to half-up rounding, it significantly reduces both legal risk and customer friction. Our estimates place the nationwide impact at approximately $250–$450 million per year. In the context of total U.S. retail cash sales, that represents about 0.05%, effectively a nickel of a percentage point. From a system and operations perspective, it provides a more predictable customer experience and reduces the risk of unintended pricing differences between cash and card transactions.
Implementing Nickel Rounding in Xstore
As discussed in the earlier blog, the configuration change for Xstore retailers is straightforward. Xstore already supports multiple rounding methods, including the round-down configuration, allowing retail IT teams to implement nickel rounding configuration changes without major system modifications. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. We’re always here to help with your retail needs.
Nickel rounding in the U.S. is still evolving, and we expect more clarity to emerge over time. For now, retailers are navigating a balance between customer experience, day-to-day operations, and regulatory awareness. Based on what we are seeing today, rounding down feels like the right step; it reduces friction, builds trust, and avoids unnecessary risk. As this topic continues to develop, we will keep tracking changes and sharing what we learn to help retailers stay informed and prepared.
For additional context, see Part 1: Nickel Rounding Is Coming – Xstore Is Ready, Are You?
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