Time to accept that the penny is now on its last legs

Is a penny for your thoughts now a nickel for your thoughts? Is penny wise and pound foolish now nickel wise and kilo foolish?
Monday marked the end of the penny in Canada. Banks will no longer issue this historic piece of Canadian money. Since 1858 the coins have jingled in everyone’s pocket. More recently, many Canadians have chosen to leave the penny behind.
In fact few Canadians today would stoop to pick up what once was known as a “Lucky Penny”. It is just too much work.
The penny today costs more to create than its value. Listening to CBC Sunday call in this past Sunday, a caller let it be known that he has been buying pennies from the bank, drilling them and using them as washers because washers were almost a nickel each compared to a penny. His savings may be coming to an end.
When I was a youngster, I would be sent to the store to buy a quart of milk or a loaf of bread with a quarter for each and with the change of three or four pennies, I was rewarded with up to 20 pieces of candy in a little brown bag. That was my payment for running an errand for my mother.
I wonder today if you can still buy any candy for a penny. An economist on the call in show let it be known that you would require 20 pennies today to buy what you could have bought with that single penny 50 years ago.
The Canadian penny still remains legal tender. Businesses will still accept the penny, as will banks. The mint made its last penny in May 2012 and since then the penny has been on borrowed time. Annually the mint produced over 150 million pennies for circulation and estimates that Canadians have hoarded over 9 billion of those coins in jars, cans, drawers and cupboards across Canada. Those 9 billion coins would be worth $90 million.
What would happen if everyone across the Rainy River district lightened the load on their floors by turning over their hoards of pennies to the Riverside Foundation or the Community Foundation? It could be a windfall for either organization. It would make the pennies valuable for one last time and at the same time help the families of the Rainy River district.
I am certain that other charities too would be glad to accept pennies.
Canada is not the first nation to do away with the penny. Australia and New Zealand did away with the penny several years ago. Everyone adjusted to it. At some stores in those two countries, businesses actually round down everything to the nickel. In Canada several businesses have indicated that they will only round down to the nearest nickel. They see that as a reward to attract cash paying customers.
For those using credit or debit cards, there will be no rounding up or down of transactions. You will be charged the exact amount, as you would be if you wrote a check.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher