From the National Post:
The penny coin, loved by some but an annoyance to many, will be withdrawn from circulation this year because it costs too much to make and is a pecuniary pest....The rationale and details re the implementation are at the National Post link. The U.S. has previously done away with two- and three-cent coins and twenty-cent coins and half cents. I'm sure the penny will go soon.
Ottawa said the penny retained only one twentieth of its original purchasing power...
“Financial institutions face increasing costs for handling, storing and transporting pennies. Over time, the penny’s burden to the economy has grown relative to its value as a means of payment,” it said. Other nations that have either ceased to produce or have removed low denomination coins include Australia, Brazil, Finland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain...
The Royal Canadian Mint will stop distributing penny coins to financial institutions later this year. As the coin slowly disappears, prices for cash transactions will be rounded up or down to the closest five cents.
Relevant video: Why the penny should be eliminated. Completely.
Expect a new flood of their pennies here in the US, then?
ReplyDeleteIt is a stupid coin that costs more to produce than it is worth. I wish the US would do the same with ours.
With the dollar it is even money -> at least until paper goes up again ha ha ha!
US Military bases overseas have done away with pennies with two exceptions: banks and post offices. Not only does it cost more to produce them, but it costs more to ship them overseas than they are worth. I lived in Japan from 1987-1990, when i was 10-14 years old, and was in to coin collecting at the time. I remember going to the bank in the states before we moved to get rolls of pennies with cash, and sitting at the table going through them looking for ones i didn't have.
ReplyDeleteGot to Japan, went to the bank, and since there weren't really pennies in circulation on base aside from the bank and the post office, all of the pennies in the rolls were brand new. Not fun/easy to collect as a result.
we had half dimes too, until 1866, I believe.
ReplyDeleteWhat?? You still have pennies in the US also? Out here in Australia they ditched the copper 1 and 2 cent coins (the ones not even kids would pick up off the ground) so many years ago, I can't remember. Now the 5 cent coin has so little value that no one picks them up either if they fall out of your hand or pocket.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home, 'Stan, looks like you're keeping us all too busy again with all of these links and stories you've been saving!
Will we stop seeing ads for products for "Only $19.99" ? What about sales tax when it doesn't evenly hit a 5 cent mark...does that get rounded down?
ReplyDeleteUhh, J.D. What about Gas Prices? You never see the cost of gas being $4, rather you'll see it as 3.99.9, utilizing the MIL, a coin which was authorized back when the US first went to decimal money, but which has never been actually made.
DeleteDaBris
tHE GOOD OLD BRITISH PENNY WAS ALMOSTAN INCH AND A QUARTER IN SIZE AND HEAVY. yOU NEEDED 240 OF THEM TO MAKE 1 POUND(MONEY). tHEY HAD HIDDEN MINT MARKS. a fairly common one in use in the 1960"s was dated 1872. I had many of these coins go through my hands,,,some were worn completely smooth and were unreadable but reconizable as pennies. Solid copper. The scrap metal industry would go to a bank, buy as many they could,go home and melt them down.That all changed in 1972 when britain went decimal(100 new dinky size pennies to a pound). The cost of everything almost doubled overnight. Oh..my brother just phoned and said gas costs about $13 a gallon there.
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