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Canada Stops Making Cents as Flaherty Lets Penny Drop

Quote:

Canada minted its final penny today as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the coin was too expensive to produce and no longer needed for business.

“The real issue was that people weren’t using them, they were putting them in jars at home, and we were doing the same thing at my house,” Flaherty said. He spoke today at the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before pushing a button that stamped the last one-cent coin.

The longest-serving finance minister in the Group of Seven nations promised in his March 29 budget to save C$11 million annually by eliminating the coin that he says costs 1.6 cents to mint. The price of copper, which is used in the penny’s production, has surged more than 330 percent since 2000.

Getting rid of the coin will have little impact on inflation, the Bank of Canada said in a May 2010 report. Electronic transactions will still be priced in cents, while retailers will round cash transactions to the nearest five-cent interval, according to the budget documents. The coin will still be usable in payments.

“It’s a bit hard to swallow,” said Francois Gendron, the 34-year veteran press operator who helped Flaherty strike the last coin. “It’s a bit of history.”

The mint has produced 35 billion pennies since it began production in 1908. Distribution of the coin will end later this year. Pennies have been made of copper-plated zinc and copper- plated steel since 1997. The last penny will go to the country’s currency museum in Ottawa.

“I’m not going to miss the penny,” said Mike Gregoire, 37, who was touring the Mint with his son. “I find it more of a nuisance; I rarely ask for my pennies back” as change from shopkeepers, he said.

The penny, with two maple leaves on one side and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the other, has lost 95 percent of its purchasing power since it was first produced by the mint.

Sauce: Canada Stops Making Cents as Flaherty Lets Penny Drop - Bloomberg

Nickel for your thoughts?:fullofwin:

Good, pennies are annoying as fuck I hate them.

As much as people want them, I swear to god I found them the most useless to me. I mean yea it's money, I get it and it has value to it, but even vending machines don't take pennies. It's....inconvenient to have them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bookfire1238 (Post 7909728)

I love this thread already.
http://www.yourfinancehelper.com/article/today/act.jpg
http://www.yourfinancehelper.com/article/today/lk.jpg

me too, fuck pennies, shits lying around everywhere

Time to start producing "need a nickel, leave a nickel" trays and get rich! :fullofwin:

lol, I find dimes and nickels annoying too...
But can't do anything about that.

Good riddance.

Eliminate cash altogether.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronin (Post 7910115)

Good riddance.

Eliminate cash altogether.

Republic credits?
Credits are no good here, only money.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GBA8X7TW0a...600/8Watto.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronin (Post 7910115)

Good riddance.

Eliminate cash altogether.

I would have to disagree with this. Too much of the world runs on credit, and look how well that's going.

Cash is King.

what happens if my change is $3.12 .... what happens with the 2 cents owed to me?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alatar (Post 7910230)

I would have to disagree with this. Too much of the world runs on credit, and look how well that's going.

Cash is King.

That's not the fault of credit. That's the fault of morons spending beyond their means. If you never owe, you'll never pay interest and if there's no annual fee, then you get benefits like cash back or points that you wouldn't with cash.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercy (Post 7910238)

what happens if my change is $3.12 .... what happens with the 2 cents owed to me?

nothing. you get $3.10 back. read the article.. but if it was $3.13 then you get $3.15 back. so laws of averages says over time, it won't significantly change how much money you have. don't worry about it

so i guess this means the odds of penny can taking off in canada became a lot more slim

for those that don't know

Spoiler!

Didn't read much into this but wouldn't merchants have the incentive to charge a price so that after tax it will always be them owing you?

Quote:

Originally Posted by flagella (Post 7910414)

Didn't read much into this but wouldn't merchants have the incentive to charge a price so that after tax it will always be them owing you?

No, because the tax that is charged, goes to the government.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronin (Post 7910242)

yes but with credit there will always be morons who do that, therefore like he said, cash is king

Well then don't approve them for credit. Cashless society doesn't mean everyone is automatically approved for a loan or line of credit. It means instead of carrying cash, you carry a card that represents money. Saves the government from having to print bills, payment processing is mostly automated and it could reduce crime.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmmk (Post 7910485)

No, because the tax that is charged, goes to the government.

tell that to the dim sum restaurant I go to :fullofwin:

will the new term be "my .05 cents" now?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld (Post 7910732)

will the new term be "my .05 cents" now?

0.05cents is 1/20th of a penny. so no, that will not be the new term

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shorn (Post 7910335)

No, there are still pennies in circulation. They only stopped making it, not using them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flagella (Post 7910414)

Didn't read much into this but wouldn't merchants have the incentive to charge a price so that after tax it will always be them owing you?

Quite a few things wrong with that.

Let's say a dollar store has everything for $1. After tax, it's $1.12, but people can only pay $1.10 so they lose 2¢. They come up with a brilliant idea to change the price to $1.01, so after tax it's $1.13 and people have to pay $1.15. Great! But what if people buy two items? That's $2.26 after tax, which means people pay less again at $2.25.

It'll be way too much work to try and nickel and dime for nickels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronin (Post 7910566)

And when the network goes down?
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a...canada-s-north
This affected a lot of gas stations in western Canada. Also how would you pay the babysitter?