• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

RIP the Canadian penny

2

23skidoo

Admiral
Admiral
Well, it's official. The final penny was pressed by the Royal Canadian Mint this morning:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/04/canadas-last-penny_n_1476664.html?ref=canada

It really feels like the end of an era (and the US is probably next so enjoy those Lincolns while you can - and is there even a 1 pence coin anymore in the UK?). Of course now all our prices go up as businesses round up to the nearest nickel (no one's gonna round down so add up all those extra pennies over the decades to come, it's a hefty stack of coin). But of course the feds have given no actual timeline for when businesses should do this - there are billions of pennies in circulation so it'll take a generation or more for them to actually disappear. Do they raise their prices today? In 2013? In 2035?

Ironically the penny "dies" just as new versions of the $1 and $2 coins appear that apparently are supposed to be harder to counterfeit. Which is a news story that has been ignored - since when has Canada ever had a counterfeit coin problem? I've never heard of that - talk about sneaking a big bit of news (that your pocket change may be fake*) under the radar...

Alex

* For accuracy's sake I should note that I'm aware of fake bullion coins circulating - fake 1 oz gold and silver coins. Which is fair enough but most people don't walk around with gold and 9999 silver in their pocket to pay for parking or the newspaper...
 
Think this was already covered in another thread somewhere...
 
While it is, it would dramatically impact sales tax since many states have 6%
 
I agree this needed to be done, but this was a pretty political decision. Everyone in Canada is talking about this, instead of the fact the government raised the eligibility age for retirement benefits to 67 from 65.

But yeah, I almost never use pennies, except when I want to make exact change purchases for the sole purpose of getting rid of them.
 
Canada has produced no cents since last year, and now it has officially ceased circulating them as well. A similar move has been debated in the U.S. for more than 20 years, but a choice still stays in limbo.
 
When and if the U.S. stops minting pennies, I won't miss them. They're more trouble than they're worth. Hell, even penny candy costs a dime these days.

23skidoo said:
. . . It really feels like the end of an era (and the US is probably next so enjoy those Lincolns while you can - and is there even a 1 pence coin anymore in the UK?).
Click to expand...
Certainly. Nice modern design on the reverse.

1312281235100082.jpg


Compared to the currency of some other countries, our American coins and bills look so stodgy and boring.
 
Woah. The Aussie one cent coin was dropped way back in 1992. Leading the way in...subtle price rising? Damn it!
 
Tosk said:
Woah. The Aussie one cent coin was dropped way back in 1992. Leading the way in...subtle price rising? Damn it!
Click to expand...

I can easily see why, instead of something costing .99 it rises to 1.00. And only those pennies add up.

And even in the UK I think there has been talk about getting rid of the penny. I might be mistaken but I think I read part of the reason was the number in circulation. Due to many people having penny jars at home.


But another reason for keeping pennies and the tuppence is that many people will drop these into charity buckets in shops when given them in change. So by abolishing them it could hurt charities.
 
The U.S. one cent piece will probably go away around the time the gov't produces a dollar coin that will actually circulate.
 
^ We can only hope.

(And I predict it'll be one century, at most, before all cash is eliminated. Paper checks will go first, though.)
 
Ríu ríu said:
^ We can only hope.

(And I predict it'll be one century, at most, before all cash is eliminated. Paper checks will go first, though.)
Click to expand...
I use cheques so rarely that I never bothered ordering new ones when the century turned.
 
Green Shirt said:
The U.S. one cent piece will probably go away around the time the gov't produces a dollar coin that will actually circulate.
Click to expand...

Getting people used to the coin $1 shouldn't be too hard (Australia did it over 20 years ago) but when you have lies such as the "In God We Trust" or what ever it being omitted when it's around the edge doesn't help things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top