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Canadian Penny Dead - No more pennies produced, starting this fall!

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by milquetoast, Mar 29, 2012.

  1. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    There were casual talks about eliminating the penny years ago, but I never thought they'd implement it on such short notice.

    How do you feel about the penny's impending extinction? Good riddance or penny genocide?

    I'll miss it, but the penny is wasteful, especially if it actually costs 1.6 cents to produce it. I use plastic wherever I can, but now I'm wondering how I can "reward" bad service at cash only restaurants :whistle: .

    Also, TIL: According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the official national term of the coin is the "one-cent piece".

    RIP
    [​IMG]
     
  2. MooGooMouse

    MooGooMouse Junior Member

    Good riddance! But just the beginning. Now let's push towards a cashless society.
     
  3. the mechanic

    the mechanic Active Member

    ... i find the move to be tremendously worrisome ...

    ... it seems to me that the canadian government is actually bound by a lawful obligation to supply pennies to the canadian financial markets and has violated the law by discontinuing it ...

    ... any thoughts?
     
  4. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    I doubt there's a law. Other countries have gotten rid of their pennies with good results. What is it that concerns you? The cost of implementing rounding systems on POS terminals?

    Its purchasing power no longer warrants its production. Most people don't really use them either so they end up accumulating in jars or tossed into sewer drains and trash cans. This forces the RCM to produce a wasteful amount of 1 cent pieces (at a premium due to material costs).

    This isn't to say that I won't miss the penny, but nostalgia and tradition alone isn't enough to keep it around, otherwise we'd still have the $2 bill.
     
  5. RIP PENNY

    RIP PENNY Guest

    RIP
    take a penny, leave a penny
    penny for your thoughts
    my 2 cents worth a.k.a my two pennies worth
    penny charity boxes

    ...and most of all... PENNY CAN :'(

     
  6. the mechanic

    the mechanic Active Member

    ...thanks for asking ...

    ... the one penny cent is an increment of pricing and pretty well every seller uses it in the pricing of their products and services. the government uses it in its various monetary assessments too. thus people should have the ability to pay in increments of one penny if they choose to ...

    ... taking away the penny is an infringement on freedom and democracy and the government should just leave well enough alone ...
     
  7. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    ^You would be able to pay the exact value with credit and debit cards.

    It's standard practice to discontinue coin denominations when their purchasing power becomes obsolete. A penny made sense 100 years ago, but nowadays it's mostly a nuisance and was long overdue for the chopping block. The USA got rid of their half-cent when it's purchasing power was about 10 cents by today's rates.

    See this article: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_debate_in_the_United_States

    It's has an American POV but the pros and cons also apply to Canada. There is also a list of countries who have made the move towards a penniless society.

    One concern I have is that retailers and businesses will manipulate their pricing so that all their sales will round up in their favour.
     
  8. West_Coast

    West_Coast Junior Member

    lol you mean Goodnight Sweet Queen :p
     
  9. the mechanic

    the mechanic Active Member

    ... is so that's one of the problems -- the elimination of the penny leads to discriminatory pricing. as you've described it there could be one price for electronic transactions and yet another price for cash. that is completely unfair ...

    ... personally i prefer to have as little contact with the banks as possible and thus i pay cash for as much as i can and i would like to always have that option open to me ...
     
  10. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    ^Fair enough. I use credit cards when I can just because you end up getting a better deal due to the perks (cash back, extended warranty, price protection, fraud protection and more).

    In principle, you have a point. Practically, the penny is worthless now in terms of purchasing power. They are producing it at a loss and the general public does not really use them. I guess they could create a cheaper penny, but people still wouldn't lose them and it would still be a colossal waste. The idea is that the rounding up/down will "even out" in the long term and have no net effect on consumers. Retailers already round when they're calculating HST and other consumer taxes.

    My only concern is if businesses take advantage of this and price things so it'll always "round up".
     
  11. Taking off one cent from the Loonie was a flagrant attack in Our currency, The power of a Country is represented by a solid unit value named currency that is conformed of 100 Cents. The imbecile of Jim Flaherty nows nothing about economy and He is trying to save 11 million per year to the Government (So He says ) But it will cost consumers billions every year, Not only on food and gasoline, But also in Your investments, Jim Flaherty has no right to unilaterally steal one cent from Our currency, He doesn't own it and has no coherent and legal ground to do it! This is a National Issue, And must be a National consensus to decide but I am sure this proposal would have been defeated.
     

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