Daytona Beach restaurant bans pennies, nickels and dimes

Chef Mario Stemberger of the Dancing Avocado Kitchen, a veggie-friendly Daytona Beach café, sees small change as "an insult to simple economics" – so he's banned it from his register.

Pointing out that it costs the United States Mint roughly double their actual worth to make pennies, nickels and dimes, Stemberger says, “If the government is going to waste our time and money with insignificant change, we’re just going to have to remove it from our registers.” 

The restaurant has adjusted its prices, taking into account the Florida state tax rate, to make items ring up to the nearest quarter. 

Every 40 transactions or so either the restaurant owes the customer a penny or vice-versa, Dancing Avocado Kitchen admits, so "there is now a large dish of pennies located at the register, left over from the restaurant’s excessive supply."

Stemberger estimates that his team used to spend up to three and a half hours per week (182 hours per year) to count the coins.