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As Penny Shortage Worsens, RAM Pushes for Guidance & Asks For Your Plans On Cash Rounding
Click image to access survey.
In May of this year, the U.S. Treasury ceased minting the penny. Retailers across the country are now facing a worsening shortage of one-cent coins, and many Massachusetts banks are no longer able to resupply RAM members with pennies.
RAM and our national partners representing the industry in Washington, D.C., are urging the federal government to take swift action to pass the Common Cents Act, legislation that will allow cash transactions to be rounded up or down to the nearest five cents, and is expected to include important standard rounding guidance. Passage of this federal law would preempt any state or local law that may be in conflict.
As we await federal action, RAM has also been in communication with various agencies of the Commonwealth to raise awareness of the issue and to urge the state to consider issuing some guidance of its own.
Retailers need guidance! Until such guidance is issued by the state or federal government, retailers across the country are implementing their own rounding practices. The two options commonly in use when pennies are unavailable are:
- Round all transactions down, to the benefit of the consumer. This presents an obvious cost to the business but may seem most fair to the consumer.
- Standard rounding (up/down) to the nearest nickel.
Either option may leave a MA retailer open to legal exposures in state and federal law, such as compliance with SNAP’s equal treatment provisions under federal law, as well as minimum pricing laws and sales tax remittance on state laws. It should be noted that Massachusetts is one of the few states in the country which mandates sellers to make cash transactions available to consumers, so moving to all electronic transactions is not currently an option in Massachusetts.
What are your plans at this point for rounding? Please take one minute to respond to this member survey so that RAM and policy makers will have a better understanding of your plans.
Any RAM member implementing any rounding policy is strongly advised to post conspicuous consumer notice and disclosure of the policy at the point of sale.
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View Survey Results
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Small Businesses are drowning in hidden energy costs
RAM PREDICTS 1.7% INCREASE IN HOLIDAY SALES
Click here to read press release.
2025 RAMAE Winners
Jon Hurst, RAM President & CEO (far left) with Alan Gibeley, Giblees -- Retail Hall of Fame; Brian and Monila Junkins, Friends' Marketplace -- Retail of the Year; Alexis Cervasio -- EBO & Co. Grocery, Creative Concepts in Retailing; Nia Grace Hyman, Grace by Nia -- Innovator of the Year; Michael Kasseris, Jason Kleinerman and Karim El-Gamal, Rail Trail Flatbread Co. -- Restaurant of the Year.
Click here to watch a short video about each of our 2025 winners.
Jon Hurst, RAM President & CEO, discussed Healthcare Costs with Sarah Iselin, President & CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts at the awards luncheon.
RAM IN THE NEWS:
Boston Globe Op-Eds:
Click image to read new blog on healthcare costs.
RAMHIC Offerings for 2025
RAMHIC continues to partner with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to offer members access to the carrier's entire portfolio of high quality, small group health insurance plans.
All members purchasing their health insurance coverage through the cooperative will also receive an expanded list of ancillary benefits, FREE of charge.
Click image above to view a BCBS produced informational video on the power of the RAM/BCBS Cooperative.
Please see our brochure for more detail on the expanded benefit package. Specific information regarding each benefit may be found below:
For more information please visit the RAMHIC page of our website.
As FY26 State Budget becomes law, Gov. Healey suggests further study of proposed Secure Choice Retirement Program
When Gov. Healey signed the FY26 State Budget into law earlier this summer, she proposed a further study of the Legislature’s proposal to create a new Secure Choice Retirement Program. That program, modeled after existing programs in a growing number of states, would mandate that employers with more than 25 employees – who do not already offer a retirement savings program, such as a 401K or a SEP – must automatically enroll employees and facilitate payroll deductions into the Secure Choice Savings Fund:
(3) Employers shall retain the option at all times to set up any type of employer- sponsored retirement plan, including, but not limited to, a defined benefit plan, a 401(k), a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plan or a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) plan, instead of having a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement to allow employee participation in the program.
Other provisions in the proposal state that employees can choose to opt-out of the program entirely. Employers are not required to make any financial contributions at all and can choose to establish an employer-sponsored retirement program at any time. If employers fail to enroll employees, they face fines of $250 per employee per year, and $500 per employee per year after the first penalty – a fine structure similar to other states with the same program.
RAM appreciates the Governor’s action in sending the proposal back to the Legislature for further study, giving employers additional time to weigh in with questions and concerns. The Legislature has yet to take up the Governor’s amendment.
Written Testimony of Jon Hurst, President & CEO
Before the Division of Insurance
Re: 2026 Merged Market Filed Health Insurance Rates
June 17, 2025
New We Card In-Store Campaign Addresses Adult Purchases for Those Underage
Order your FREE We Card Kit to start raising awareness of adults’ role in social sourcing. As a retailer this is your opportunity to take action to address this issue.
Join the tens of thousands of retailers who are helping to prevent and discourage adult purchases of tobacco and vaping products on behalf of underage people.
We Card’s new program targets “social sourcing,” or adult purchases of tobacco and vaping products on behalf of minors. After field testing, We Card is rolling out the national in-store campaign to raise awareness of the “social access” problem and is introducing this program to the nation’s retailers at no cost.
Click here to read more.
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