Restaurants and other businesses are hoarding pennies, according to The Wall Street Journal, in response to the end of penny production by the U.S. Mint. Heather Haddon reports:

In a September letter, nine associations representing retailers and restaurants begged Congress to take a stand on rounding. At least 10 states and localities have rules on rounding and other cash-management practices, putting businesses in a tough spot as one-cent increments become harder—and likely impossible soon—to pull off in cash.

“Our members need clear and expedited guidelines and relief,” the groups wrote.

The American Bankers Association has established a “Penny Work Group,” and is pleading with the Federal Reserve to accept pennies deposited at local facilities again after it stopped doing so, limiting circulation.

Roughly half of the 165 operating terminals that hold and distribute coins have stopped circulating pennies in the past two months. Some large banks are now shipping the coins to branches that have run out. But that gets costly quickly: $1,000 worth of the pennies weigh roughly 500 pounds.

America last phased out a coin roughly 170 years ago, when it got rid of the half-cent. “We don’t have a lot of experience with this,” said Steve Kenneally, the association’s senior vice president of payments.

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