This man demanded to see the manager over one cent at Home Depot, and what he discovered will make you check your receipts

A Home Depot customer is going viral on TikTok after he demanded to see a manager over just one penny. The man, who goes by Paw Paw on the platform, shared his story about a cashier who tried to round down his change during a cash purchase. His change was supposed to be $10.51, but the cashier only gave him $10.50.

According to Daily Dot, when Paw Paw asked where his penny was, the cashier told him they don’t have pennies and round the amount down. Paw Paw refused to accept this and said he would either see a manager or cancel the whole transaction. After the manager said the same thing about not having pennies, Paw Paw asked for a nickel instead. He ended up getting four extra cents, which felt like a win for standing up for his money.

For many people, this issue is not really about the money but about the principle. Some also pointed out that the amount becomes astronomical for Home Depot since it draws millions of customers per day. “theu have 4.4million customer a day…thats $44,000 per day that theyre making by keeping that penny!”” one person wrote.

Big stores might be using the penny shortage as an excuse

Paw Paw believes that Home Depot and other big stores aren’t actually out of pennies. He thinks they just want another way to take more money from customers. He pointed out that hundreds of millions of pennies are still in use, so there’s no real reason for stores to keep your change. You shouldn’t let them shortchange you because that money belongs to you.

While his doubt about big companies makes sense, the penny shortage is actually real. The U.S. Treasury made its last batch of pennies in November. Since then, many stores have put up signs asking customers to use exact change because they might need to round totals to the nearest nickel. This isn’t the first time customers have faced unusual money disputes at major retailers.

The problem got worse because the Federal Reserve stopped giving out pennies at coin terminals months ago. These are the places where banks get or deposit coins. This means most of these locations don’t have pennies to give to banks or businesses anymore.

Store policies seem to be different everywhere, so you need to watch your final total carefully when paying with cash. Some companies are actually rounding in favor of customers. For example, another TikTok user showed a Walmart receipt from October where the store rounded down and gave her an extra four cents. Like when public figures stand up for principle, sometimes it’s about making a statement.

Companies need to fix their policies to avoid making customers angry. Losing a penny on one purchase might seem small, but when it happens millions of times daily across a big retailer, it adds up to a lot of money for the company. Next time you pay with cash, make sure you know exactly what your change should be. You might end up getting a nickel out of it too.