(NEXSTAR) – From gas stations to grocery stores and retailers, businesses have had to grapple with the new reality of a lack of pennies. The end of penny production has claimed a new victim: your local post office.

The U.S. minted its last new pennies in November, marking the end of America’s 232-year-old one-cent coins.

Pennies remain legal tender, but in recent months, businesses have been unable to order new rolls of the coins as production wound down. Estimates say there are more than 300 billion pennies already tucked away in piggy banks, cupholders, coin purses, couches, and anywhere else a copper Lincoln can hide. But, if the pennies aren’t being spent or deposited into banks, it’s difficult for them to circulate.

That has caused some retailers to pay for one-cent coins, in a sense, while others have urged customers not to pay with cash or rounded change due to a lack of pennies.

The U.S. Postal Service has joined the latter group.

In a publication Tuesday, USPS said the policy, which technically took effect on Dec. 12, calls for change on cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest nickel if the post office has no pennies in the till.

If you are owed change that ends in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents, your change will be rounded down (change of $3.57, for example, becomes $3.55). Change ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9, will be rounded up (instead of receiving $1.28, you’ll get $1.30).

Should your total amount be less than 5 cents, your transaction will be rounded up to 5 cents, unless you have exact change.

Pennies will still be accepted (and maybe even celebrated) at your local post office, according to USPS.

Experts say rounding of cash transactions could face legal obstacles, and advocates have called on Congress to establish a national law to address the situation. A bill to do that was introduced in April and was placed on the calendar in September after an amended version was recommended for passage by the House Committee on Financial Services.

For now, if you’re planning to pay with cash at a store or restaurant, you may want to prepare to receive slightly more change than you’re actually owed. 

There’s also little value to stockpiling pennies, unless you have a stash of rare pennies. Otherwise, your one-cent coin is likely worth only its face value.