Do you have a few extra pennies? Maybe 10,000 of them? If so, you’re in luck – one grocery chain is willing to pay twice the value for as many cents as you can haul into one of their stores this weekend.
It will help if you’re in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana or Maryland. That’s where Giant Eagle is holding its “Big Penny Exchange” from 11am-4pm this Saturday, November 1st in all of its more than 200 stores.
From a minimum of 50 pennies to a maximum of 10,000 per transaction, anyone can turn in their cents for a gift card worth twice as much. So 50 pennies will get a $1 Giant Eagle gift card. If you have $100 worth of pennies, you can double it for a gift card worth $200 in groceries. And if you have more than that? Get to the back of the line for another transaction, if you’re that determined.
So load up your coin jars, your wheelbarrow or your spare Brink’s truck for what could be the greatest grocery two-for-one sale since Giant Eagle got rid of double coupons!
The offer comes as retailers are beginning to run out of pennies, five months after the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would stop producing one-cent coins. Pennies that are still in circulation are still valid. But with the supply no longer set to be regularly replenished, and the Federal Reserve limiting deliveries of new pennies to many banks and commercial customers, stores are running out of exact change faster than most people anticipated.
Some have proposed rounding off prices to the nearest nickel for those paying in cash. Others, like ALDI and the Midwestern retailer Kwik Trip are rounding all cash totals down to the nearest five cents, “ensuring a guest-friendly approach,” Kwik Trip explains.
And others are implementing stopgap measures until they decide what to do in the long term. Kroger stores have begun posting signs at self-checkouts, asking shoppers “to consider providing exact change,” as Kroger “continue(s) to assess the impact of the U.S. Treasury’s decision to end penny production.”
But Giant Eagle’s move goes a lot further than just asking politely for pennies.
As “retailers across the country are taking steps to maintain adequate supplies of pennies,” Giant Eagle CEO Bill Artman said in a statement, “we saw a unique and fun opportunity to reward customers for joining our efforts. We invite everyone to check their change jars, desk drawers, and couch cushions to help keep pennies available for those who choose to pay with cash.”
Giant Eagle is calling it a temporary move, until a more permanent solution is in place. “This proactive step allows the company to maintain accuracy and fairness while it awaits formal guidance from the U.S. government regarding future rounding practices,” the retailer said.
And Giant Eagle isn’t alone in putting the onus on the government to solve this government-created conundrum. Industry groups like the National Association of Convenience Stores are urging Congress to create a national law enabling businesses to round transactions to the nearest nickel, since “there are some states and localities with cash laws that would prohibit this type of rounding,” the NACS explained.
Until then, you can cash in on all the confusion with the “Big Penny Exchange.” And with some suggesting that the nickel might be next on the chopping block – better start saving them up now, for an even more lucrative grocery gift card exchange in the future.
Image source: slgckgc 
