We may be seeing the beginning of the end for the penny.

Local shortages are showing up in pockets of the country, but most Americans haven't felt it — yet.

"Most transactions today are digital, but the people who tend to use cash and rely on cash will definitely feel the penny shortage before the rest of us experience it, if at all," said Deidre Popovich, associate professor of marketing at Texas Tech University.

Without pennies, businesses will have to decide whether to round prices to the nearest nickel or even dollar when it comes to cash transactions. But the biggest changes are likely to be in how items are priced, changing the familiar "99‑cent effect" where a price just under a dollar feels cheaper.

"This is called the left digit effect because our brain tends to process inform

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