Beginning in March, shoppers in New York who prefer to pay with cash will get new protections at the checkout counter.
A new state law set to take effect on March 20 will make it illegal for retailers to charge customers paying with cash more than those using cards or other payment methods. It’s part of a broader push to protect consumers who still rely on cash, even as the country moves further toward digital payments.
The change comes amid growing concern about the future of cash, especially following the federal government’s decision to end production of the penny after 232 years.
The global law firm Holland & Knight (H&K) noted that eliminating the penny has “posed practical challenges for cash transactions, highlighting legal requirements for cash acceptance,” and has forced many businesses to rethink how they handle pricing and rounding.
What the New York law requires
New York Senate Bill S4153A will require most businesses to accept cash for in-person purchases. According to H&K, the goal is to ensure that “consumers are not excluded from commerce due to payment method restrictions.”
On top of that, the law will bar retailers from charging more when someone chooses to pay in cash.
It will also crack down on rounding practices that result in cash customers paying more than those using cards or mobile payments. With pennies no longer being minted, many businesses have turned to rounding rules—sometimes rounding totals up instead of down, which can cost cash customers a little extra on each purchase.
One high-profile example is McDonald’s, which drew criticism for a rounding policy that pushes certain totals ending in three, four, eight, and nine cents up to the next nickel.
H&K emphasized that even ongoing coin shortages don’t give businesses a free pass to ignore cash laws, writing that “though ongoing coin shortages may present operational challenges, these do not excuse noncompliance with state or local law.”
The end of the penny — and what comes next
The Treasury Department placed its final order for blank pennies around May 2025 and planned to stop minting the coins, estimating annual savings of about $56 million, since each penny costs nearly four cents to produce.
The final pennies were minted on November 12, 2025, closing a 232-year chapter in U.S. currency history.
Even so, the U.S. Mint estimates that roughly 300 billion pennies are still in circulation, and the coin remains legal tender for now.
The U.S. is following in the footsteps of countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, which have already phased out their one-cent coins. Once the transition is complete, the nickel will become the nation’s lowest denomination coin.
However, the nickel presents its own issue: it costs even more to make. Each one reportedly costs about 13.8 cents to produce, raising questions about whether further coin changes may be needed down the road.
Sources: NPR, The Tennessean and The U.S. Mint
Exceptions and penalties under the law
New York’s new rules are not absolute. Businesses will not be required to accept cash for transactions over $20 when the purchase is made by phone, mail, or online—unless the payment is ultimately completed on-site.
Unlike some similar laws in other parts of the country, this measure does not explicitly carve out exceptions for parking facilities, vending machines, live sporting events, or consumer goods rentals, according to H&K.
There is still some gray area. Because the law covers internet transactions that are completed on the premises, H&K notes that the status of bill-payment and financial-services kiosks under the law “is ambiguous.”
Businesses that ignore the cash-acceptance rules face real financial consequences. Violations can bring civil penalties of up to $1,000 for a first offense, with each additional violation resulting in fines of $1,500.
