What are the impacts and solutions for Canadian retailers due to the Canada's decision to eliminate the penny?

How do address the Canadian penny issue with your Restaurant Point of Sale (POS) system?
Effective February 4, 2013, the Canadian Finance Minister enacted its decision of eliminating the penny by taking it out of circulations. Canadian banks will only take pennies as deposits and not reissue any pennies. This action now requires retailers and service providers to amend the manner in which cash transactions are handled. Electronic transactions including credit/debit card, gift card, and checks will continue to be calculated to the penny. In cases of cash transactions, the retailer will need to round up or down the final transaction amount to the closest five cent (nickel) transaction and provide change unless the customer provides exact change.
The elimination of the penny from cash circulation was announced by the government as part of the 2012 Economic Plan due to the increasing cost of producing the penny. According to the Canadian Government, the penny as costing more to produce than its face value. Commencing in the late 2012, the Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing pennies to the banks and businesses were directed to return the coins starting in February of 2013. The following are some of the guidelines:
A. The penny will remain legal tender and maintain its value indefinitely.
B. The Canadian government has issued the following guidelines to the public and retailers:
C. The use of pennies for cash transactions by consumers will remain indefiate for the purchase of goods and services.
D. The final price of the a consumers entire transactions needs to be rounded up, not for each item or sales tax.
E. Transactions involving credit/debit cards or checks will continue in pennies without any rounding.
F. Consumers have the option of paying in exact change without rounding.
G. Effect on Retailers and Point of Sale (POS) Systems
The Canadian Government has adamantly maintained that the changes will have no impact on any businesses. This includes the government’s stance that business will not need to update their POS systems and any complaint POS system will remain compliant. So here is what you need to train your staff on when it comes to operating your current POS system.
1. For all non cash transaction including gift cards, no change needs to be made to the current process.2. For all cash transactions, the following procedure needs to be followed.  The customer is given the exact amount due (i.e. $15.57).A. If the customer provides the exact change (i.e. $15.57), then the truncation is completed as before.
B. If the customer provides non-exact change (i.e. $20.00), then the change will appear as to the penny (i.e. $4.43).  In this case, the customer will receive change that is rounded up (i.e. $4.45).
So the best way to handle this is not by rounding up/down the amount due, but rather rounding the change.
Sintel Systems is a leading provider of point of sale (POS) systems to  the restaurant industry (including pizza shops and frozen yogurt).
What other industries does Sintel Systems serve? As its subsidiary, BestPizzaPOS.com is a quality provider point of sale systems to the pizza restaurant and pizzerias industry . The name says it all. Best Pizza POS. Not Cheap Pizza POS! English & Spanish videos about our Pizza POS are also available.
We are Sintel Systems. Single Source Business Solutions! Hardware – Software – Support Sintel Systems Questions or Comments: Contact us 855-POS-SALE 855-767-7253