Fla. hardware store says 'no more pennies!'

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COCONUT GROVE, Fla., May 20 (UPI) -- A Coconut Grove, Fla., hardware store has instituted a no penny policy, saying pennies -- to coin a phrase -- just no longer make cents.

Andy Haase, owner of Shell Lumber, has banished the one-cent nuisance from his cash drawers. A sign at the front door reads: "No more pennies! For cash sales, we round in your favor."

Haase told The Miami Herald he was tasked with accounting for nearly 1,200 pennies every day across 10 cash registers. Four weeks ago, he instructed cashiers to start lowering final sales amounts by as much as 4 cents, so customers could keep their cents to themselves.

"The bookkeepers used to come down and say your cash drawer was off by a penny," he told The Herald. "It was just a lot of work for nothing."

Shell Lumber is the latest front on the war on pennies, the newspaper said.

Canada announced in March it would eliminate the 1-cent piece from its economy. The Canadian Mint will no longer make the coin, stores will be asked to return their pennies, and all transactions will be rounded to the nearest 5-cent increment.

The Canadian government estimates the decision will save the country about $11 million.

The Pentagon in 1980 stopped shipping pennies to overseas military bases because they are "too heavy and not cost effective to ship." It costs the federal government 2.4 cents to make a penny.