Illinois
Penny shortage causes headaches for retailers in the Land of Lincoln
Article Summary
- Illinois citizens and retailers are grappling with the slow disappearance of the penny in the Land of Lincoln.
- The lack of fixed guidance at the state and federal levels on how to address the scarcity of new pennies has left some businesses at a loss.
- Many retailers have resorted to rounding their prices up or down when selling or making change, but that is imprecise.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
SPRINGFIELD — At the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, visitors can shop for sweatshirts, pillows, jewelry and chocolates using coins bearing the face of perhaps the most-famous Illinoisian, Abraham Lincoln.
But even here, pennies are growing scarce at the cash register.
The museum gift shop, like the rest of the country, is grappling with a penny shortage after the United States Mint halted production of the coin in November, citing the rising cost of producing them.
The lack of fixed guidance from the state and federal governments about how to cope with the shortage of new pennies has left some business owners scrambling to come up with ways to address it.
Many retailers are just rounding up or down to the nearest 0- or 5-cent mark in their prices to make change. They will accept the one-cent coins, but can’t always pay them out.
“The retailer faces frustration on behalf of the consumer,” said Rob Karr, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. “Most retailers are rounding in the consumer’s favor, which doesn’t make the consumer mad, but it also takes profits out of the retailer and puts them at the narrowest end of the net profit margin. So every penny matters there. I think the absence of clear guidance at the moment is difficult.”
Some businesses, like the Lincoln Museum gift shop, display a guide on how its rounding system works. The museum, for example, rounds amounts ending in 1 or 2 cents down to 0. It rounds amounts ending in 3 or 4 cents up to 5 cents, and amounts ending in 6 or 7 cents down to 5 cents. However, other business owners say this kind of multi-tiered rounding system can be inconvenient and confusing for customers.
For many Illinoisans, there is a sad, end-of-an-era feeling watching the slow disappearance of the one-cent coin, which was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792. President Lincoln’s profile has been on the “heads” side since 1909, and that change made him the first president featured on U.S. coins in honor of his 100th birthday.
Mary Disseler has been working as a volunteer at the Lincoln Museum for over 20 years since its founding in 2005. As a die-hard fan of Lincoln, she sees the decision to stop penny production as a sad but sensible decision.
“It kind of breaks my heart. I think it’s a nice tribute to Mr. Lincoln, but I understand that it’s costing four cents to make a penny, so there’s a part of us that has to be practical, too,” she said.
Keith Wetherell, executive director of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, which represents a handful of small, cash-reliant or cash-exclusive businesses, has practical concerns, too. He worries that the inconvenience posed by complicated rules around rounding could affect customers’ sentiments.
“The one thing that we would really lobby against was any type of bouncing around from city to city where you have all these different rules and stuff; we want to just minimize the confusion,” he said. “We just like to make everything as good and as easy as possible for the customer. Small businesses are struggling as it is. We don’t want any operational challenges. When (customers) have challenges, they take it out on us by not buying them as much.”
Julie Johnson, who owns Daisy Jane’s, a boutique in downtown Springfield, said she rounded up cash change to the benefit of the customer when necessary, but would rather use pennies to give them exact amounts.
“My jar is pretty low on coins. I’m gonna have to figure out what (the state) wants us to do with pennies,” she said. “There has to be a plan for that. When you calculate tax on something, it’s almost always going to have pennies as part of the equation.”
How will lawmakers respond?
Illinois lawmakers say the penny shortage is not an issue at the top of the agenda because of factors like the popularity of cashless payment methods and the fact that there are still billions of pennies in circulation.
Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Cherry Valley, wrote a note on his website in November applauding the U.S. Treasury’s decision to halt production, saying it was “more of an inconvenience than a useful part of the economy.” He said no steps were currently being taken to address the shortage at the state level and that he would await guidance from the federal level.
“It’ll be something that they’ll obviously start working on addressing more and more as the pennies become less in circulation,” he told Capitol News Illinois. “It doesn’t look like people have to worry about it at all for 2026. I’m guessing that the soonest there’d be any guidance would be ’27, when they would maybe set some rules about requiring businesses to accept whatever rounding decision that gets made.”
But Karr, head of the retail merchants association, said he wasn’t satisfied with Springfield playing the waiting game and leaving the decision up to the U.S. Treasury.
“While the federal government makes currency decisions, the states make sales tax decisions. So it’s a shared responsibility,” he said. “While there’s clarity that the federal government needs to provide, there’s also clarity that the state needs to provide. That clarity, it helps in terms of lawsuits as well, because there are lawyers out there who can sue if they don’t think you’ve done something correctly. And without that guidance, it leaves the retailers certainly exposed.”
Gordon Davis, founder of the Springfield tea store Whimsy Tea, said he hasn’t had issues with the penny shortage yet, but that it was “looming.” He said that while 72% of his customers opted to pay with cards, more than one-quarter still chose to pay with cash.
Instead of rounding prices, Davis made prices tax-inclusive in his store’s point of sale system, which he says saves him the trouble of facing legal complications with rounding.
“Rounding, as I understand, can run you afoul of federal law because you have to treat all currencies, all payment methods the same. If you’re rounding for cash but not rounding for card, you’re breaking the law,” he said.
Still, experts say that beyond minor adjustment costs on the retailers’ end, the penny shortage won’t pose a major issue in terms of price increases simply because its value is low.
“Inflation-wise, it’s not creating a problem,” said Shihan Xie, an assistant professor of monetary economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “The value of the penny has diminished. It’s at a point where the value is so small that it’s not going to affect daily life much, or that it becomes crazy.”
But for some citizens of the Land of Lincoln, the penny shortage is an issue that has more to do with sentiment. Lincoln Museum volunteer Disseler she understands the economics no longer support the beloved one-cent piece.
“We’ll still have the $5 bill,” she said. “Even though they’re phasing (the penny) out, we’ll keep his memory alive forever.”
Erika Tulfo is a graduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Illinois
Illinois Democrats face backlash after blaming Trump in Chicago cross-burning case | Fox News Video
‘Outnumbered’ reacts to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson blaming President Donald Trump for a cross-burning incident in Grant Park.
Illinois Democratic leaders Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are slammed for weaponizing a Chicago cross burning incident by blaming former President Trump. Despite the suspect, Murlin Lue, admitting his motive was to protest Trump, not racism, Pritzker and Johnson doubled down. Critics, including Illinois GOP State Rep. Chris Miller, accuse them of playing politics and fostering division rather than seeking truth.
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – November ballots will feature a repeat of top billing in the race for governor. Illinoisans can once again choose between Governor JB Pritzker or Darren Bailey to lead the Land of Lincoln.
But beside their spots, new names will appear for voters.
The Democratic and Republican candidates for governor picked new running mates for their rematch. With Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton running for U.S. Senate, Pritzker picked Christian Mitchell to join his ticket. On the Republican side, Aaron Del Mar joins Bailey, who previously ran with Stephanie Trussell in 2022.
Mitchell and Del Mar spoke Thursday with WIFR on what inspires them to run, their campaign priorities and ideas to improve the Rockford region.
Backgrounds
Starting with the Democratic ticket, Mitchell joins the race as a former state representative from Chicago as well as a deputy governor with the Pritzker administration.
“Before anything else, I’m Debbie’s son, and I’m James’s grandson,” Mitchell introduced. “They’re the ones who really instilled in me the value of hard work and made sure that I was going to have a very bright future.”
Mitchell sees the role of lieutenant governor as a partner to the state’s executive.
“I’m really lucky to be running with somebody who I respect, and who I think is the best governor in the nation… Governor JB Pritzker,” he said.. “My first thing is going to be supporting his agenda, which right now is all about lowering costs and raising wages.”
On the Republican side, Del Mar hails from suburban Chicago and considers his first priority to be raising his family.
“I wanted nothing to do with politics, did not want to be involved — wanted just to raise my kids and work my job,“ said Del Mar. He described his start in public service as something he ”kind of got pulled into.”
The Republican worked his way from a city council member in Palatine, at 29-years-old, to co-chair of the Illinois GOP. Although he says he “wanted nothing to do with being on” Bailey’s campaign, Del Mar sees strength in unity — offering a Chicago area perspective alongside Bailey’s southern Illinois roots.
“How about everybody in the state of Illinois, regardless of where you come from, has a seat at the table. If you’re from a southeast farming community, or you’re from the city of Chicago, where I grew up, everybody has a stake in the game.”
Priorities
Mitchell points to economic development as his focus for the gubernatorial campaign.
“I see vacancies on State Street in Chicago. I see vacancies on Main Street in Belleville and Alton and in Carbondale,” he recounted. “I want to make sure that we’ve got the kind of amenities and economic development, that kind of affordability, that allow us to make sure that folks want to stay in the towns that they’re born in if they want to.”
The Democratic candidate also eyes long-term planning for the state, including an “Illinois 2050 Plan.”
“How do we have the kind of educational undergirding that means that no matter where you’re from, you have a chance to have one of those jobs, whether it’s in new agriculture technology and new farming techniques or biotech, quantum.”
When asked how to achieve these priorities, Mitchell turned to investing in public education, retaining residents with better wages and improving health care.
“Making sure that we are able to protect our health care system, so that folks aren’t going broke when they get sick, that’s another big way that we can make an impact.”
Del Mar outlined a cost-of-living focus as central to his campaign.
“You wanna succeed, you do the basics really well, and the basics are affordability,” he contended.
The Republican repeatedly highlighted the state’s property taxes — reportedly the highest in the nation — as an issue to tackle. He suggested redirecting Illinois’s budget as one measure to ease the burden on homeowners.
“Number one is fully funding the state’s portion of local taxes, because that will offer people property tax relief.” Del Mar clarified this wouldn’t mean redirecting funds for public education.
“We’re looking at how we fund schools, how we make sure to empower teachers to have the best educational outcomes that we can have here in Illinois, regardless of what your zip code is, regardless of what your parents do for a living or how much money they make,” added Del Mar.
Reflecting on Rockford
Each candidate provided their vision for boosting the Rockford region.
For Mitchell, improvements continue with infrastructure funding, building on the state’s roughly $500 million investment in the area.
“The things that we have already worked on, through the capital plan that I helped lead as deputy governor, that the governor signed and is implementing, are already having benefits that the people of Rockford can see.”
The Democrat also pointed to the Chicago Rockford International Airport as an opportunity.
“Investing in that regional airport where we’ve already helped with a matching grant to get additional funds, that helps build out the economy,” said Mitchell. “There’s so much that’s happening there that it is really good for the economy and bringing more people back to Rockford.”
Del Mar shared his local priority as supporting unionization in the area.
“Union families deserve to be able to have a livable wage, and that’s something that’s important to Darren and I,” said Del Mar. He mentioned pensions were another item that a Republican executive wouldn’t touch for the public and private sector unions.
“I know that area up there has strong union backbone,” described Del Mar. “We want to make sure they know that they’re not going to have a bigger supporter in the governor’s mansion than Darren and I.”
Election Day
When asked for thoughts on their opponent, Mitchell criticized the Bailey campaign as a “repacking” of his 2022 run.
“The only record that they have to run on is extremism,” he exclaimed.
The Republican candidate also reflected on records, pointing to Pritzker’s years in office.
“Why are we underfunding education? Why are property taxes at all-time high? Why are businesses leaving?” asked Del Mar.
Voters can decide on who will lead Illinois November 3. Early voting starts September 24, with applications for voting by mail opening August 5.
Extended Interviews
Copyright 2026 WIFR. All rights reserved.
ROCHESTER, Minn. (FOX 9) – A man from Illinois is facing felony charges after police say he took part in a scheme that convinced a Rochester resident to hand over thousands of dollars in cash and nearly fell for a gold bar handoff.
Rochester phone scam
What we know:
According to a criminal complaint filed in Olmsted County District Court, police say the victim was contacted by phone and told he was under investigation for a crime. The caller convinced him to deliver $30,000 in cash to a man he met in person on June 17, 2026.
The victim was then pressured to arrange a second delivery — this time, 10 one-ounce gold bars — on June 23, 2026. Detectives worked with the victim to set up a controlled delivery using fake gold bars and a GPS tracker.
Charges state that the plan was for the victim to meet whoever arrived to pick up the package, while officers watched nearby. Surveillance officers saw a white SUV with Illinois plates circling the parking lot at 2711 Commerce Drive NW in Rochester.
The complaint states a man, later identified as Kiranbhai Kanubhai Vasava, got out, met the victim, gave the password and took the package. Officers followed the car as it left the scene. Detectives stop suspects and recover cash
Why you should care:
Police stopped the SUV near Eyota and searched it, finding $50,000 in cash, several cell phones, bank checks with Vasava’s name, and packaging materials similar to those used for the fake gold bars. The package with the GPS tracker and fake gold was missing, but officers later found the GPS device torn apart on the side of the highway.
The second man in the car, Hemendrasinh Pravinsinh Dabhi, told police he got a call from India about a package but claimed he knew nothing about it, saying, “he just drives.” Vasava also denied knowing what was happening.
Kiranbhai Vasava linked to Wisconsin case
The backstory:
The complaint states detectives linked Vasava to another similar case in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where a bank customer was convinced to hand over $50,000 in cash to a driver in a white Honda SUV. Video from that incident showed Vasava receiving the package.
Police say this type of swindle involves convincing victims they are under investigation and must pay money or hand over valuables to clear their name. Detectives say the investigation involved coordination between local police and law enforcement in Wisconsin.
The Source: Criminal charges filed in Olmsted County Court.
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