Canada is penniless.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Costly coin discontinued.

Rounding to the nearest nickel starts today.

[2four 21]

*snif snif*

RIP

[Ocram's Razr 963]

The USA should discontinue its penny as well.

--Ocram

[Dewm 177]

The USA should discontinue its penny as well.

--Ocram

The USA should discontinue its poor fiscal plan, of borrowing and spending, to the point that the penny isn't worth minting anymore.

my $0.05

[MandelSoft 2,769]

We have discontiued the €0.01 and €0.02 coins here in the Netherlands without any trouble

[Haljackey 17,243]

Good riddance I say.

I say we should have ridden ourselves of the Nickel at the same time we discontinued the penny. Get rid of that whole decimal point.

Also this video is relevant, especially for US pennies:

Follow-up after Canada announced it was getting rid of the penny last year:

[TekindusT 3,809]

We have discontiued the €0.01 and €0.02 coins here in the Netherlands without any trouble

Great decision. 1 and 2 cent coins are a pain, you can't even use them on vending machines or parkmeters.

[Alejandro24 575]

We have discontiued the €0.01 and €0.02 coins here in the Netherlands without any trouble

Great decision. 1 and 2 cent coins are a pain, you can't even use them on vending machines or parkmeters.

More or less are in the same way the 5, 10 and 20 cents coins in the mexican peso. Nobody uses them, Banco de México should remove that coins at once.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The whole idea of specie currency (coins) is an idea that has come and now has outlived is usefulness. However, we have found that getting rid of $1 and $2 bills by replacing them with coins has been a cost saver. Now we have these new plastic bank notes, with the $20 just issued, the others to follow. Besides the security features, these are expected to remain in useable condition for circulation longer than the predecessors.

When I was a bank teller, oh so many years ago, one of the things that was in the duty of a teller was to remove damaged currency from circulation and sequester it until there was enough for a shipment to the mint for destruction. A pain in the nether regions for all tellers and a general nuisance for the banks and the mint. They've been working hard to ameliorate this.

As the cashless society expands, expect to see less and less currency. If transaction charges in the bank accounts were not so high, this would go even faster. I carry enough cash for minor purchases because each transaction I have per month over a limit for which I get a senior's allowance, would cost, in some case, more than the transaction amount.

A failed experiment a few years ago with a "cash" card where you could load the card with an amount using a special machine and take a reasonable amount out of your account on to the card didn't work because of the chance of losing the card, which was high. The testbed was the students in the college where I was working at the time.

For anyone who has not encountered Canadian $1 and $2 coins, the one dollar coin originally had a loon on the obverse and the mint hoped the coin would be called a loon. Didn't work, it is called the Loonie. The two dollar coin has a bear, and the hope was that it would be called a bear, but it is called the Twonie. If they bring out a $5 coin, rumoured to be in the works, I think it might just be called a Bugsy in sequence with the Loony Tunes cartoons. The only thing that would save it is if the obverse did not have a picture of a rabbit. At the moment they are in the throes of bring out a new, plastic $5 bill.

[astronelson 339]

Welcome to the club! We phased our 1 and 2 cent coins out in 1992, although they are still legal tender. Some of them found new life being melted down and recycled into the bronze medals for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

[Duke87 1,070]

The method of rounding Canada has chosen to go with seems weird to me, though. Card and check transactions still happen in 1 cent increments, but cash transactions must be rounded to the nearest five cents... at the register.

This methodology is dependent on Canadians being a generally easygoing and keep it simple lot. It would never work in the US. Accountants would cringe at it. If we ever get rid of our penny (yeah, like that'll ever happen), the only way to do it will be to make it such that 5 cents is the lowest possible quantum of money, for anything, anywhere.

[Haljackey 17,243]

If we ever get rid of our penny (yeah, like that'll ever happen), the only way to do it will be to make it such that 5 cents is the lowest possible quantum of money, for anything, anywhere.

That was suggested here, but many Canadians felt that retailers would just round up to the nearest Nickel, even if it was 1 or 2 cents. This would gouge customers but not by a lot, but if this is done for billions of transactions it ends up being a lot of extra profit for companies.

Still, there are those who fear companies will still just raise prices to the nearest 5 cents (after taxes). I guess we'll wait and see what happens.

[astronelson 339]

The method of rounding Canada has chosen to go with seems weird to me, though. Card and check transactions still happen in 1 cent increments, but cash transactions must be rounded to the nearest five cents... at the register.

Same way we do it here in Australia, and several other places around the world. It's called Swedish rounding.

This methodology is dependent on Canadians being a generally easygoing and keep it simple lot. It would never work in the US. Accountants would cringe at it. If we ever get rid of our penny (yeah, like that'll ever happen), the only way to do it will be to make it such that 5 cents is the lowest possible quantum of money, for anything, anywhere.

You'll still end up very close to what the figure would be without rounding - there would be approximately as many purchases that round up as ones that round down, and you'd be as likely to be slightly ahead as behind.

Anyway, isn't petrol in the US priced to tenths of a cent?

[allkill326 8]

Pennies are still used in Debits and Credit Cards.

[LexusInfernus 908]

I hate those small coins. I always end up with so much of them, while I hardly ever use them to pay for anything. So they just end up covering my desk or something.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

They still remain legal tender. However, retail businesses and banks will no longer hand them out in change, and they will eventually all be returned to the mint for disposal. All, that is, except those being hoarded for various purposes.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Well, regarding credit and bank cards: the same system is used here. Those numbers are not rounded off while cash payment is rounded off...

[Duke87 1,070]

"Anyway, isn't petrol in the US priced to tenths of a cent?"

^quote from astronelson. Quote feature seems to not be working properly right now.

More specifically, to nine tenths of a cent. With the extra nine tenths in fine print. So what everyone calls $3.89 is actually $3.899. It's a clever move on the part of gas station owners... however, most people are not aware it is done - the pump doesn't show the tenths of a cent in the total purchase. It'd be rather different if single cents had to be rounded to five cents as it'd be glaringly obvious to everyone that it was happening.

[Meastro444 1]

 

As the cashless society expands, expect to see less and less currency. If transaction charges in the bank accounts were not so high, this would go even faster. I carry enough cash for minor purchases because each transaction I have per month over a limit for which I get a senior's allowance, would cost, in some case, more than the transaction amount.

A failed experiment a few years ago with a "cash" card where you could load the card with an amount using a special machine and take a reasonable amount out of your account on to the card didn't work because of the chance of losing the card, which was high. The testbed was the students in the college where I was working at the time.

 

We use both systems here in the Netherlands. The chipknip is when you carry the money on the card and is used mostly for small, up to €10,-, purchases. I use it in the coffeemachine since you only have to press "ok".

The replacement of cash in favour over card payments is progressing fast here. Virtually no transaction costs.

[Haljackey 17,243]

Welp, I just rolled up my last roll of pennies.

I decided to keep two. One from 2012 (not many were made last year as production was very low and stopped in May) and one from 1964 in remarkably good shape. Betcha I could get a nickel for it.

 

Also interesting: a high percentage of them were American pennies... At least a dozen in the 50 coin roll.

[Bdub01 201]

I still get Canadian pennies and for some odd reason quarters from time to time as cash back here in the US. Guess ill keep the pennies now. They may be worth something in fifty years!

[Superbacon 380]

If only the US would stop making pennies as well. There's a smart budget cut.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Can you imagine the amount of metal scrap that would result if 350,000,000 Americans dumped all their pennies on the Federal Reserve in one week?  The value of the recovered metal would go a long way to helping the national debt.

[Superbacon 380]

It really would. It's more like 310 million Americans though. But no one here has time for rational solutions. It's a shame.

[hym 358]

If only the US would stop making pennies as well. There's a smart budget cut.

 

Yeah, but an insignificant one.  Cutting penny production would only lower costs by $60 million a year, plus it does nothing about the fact that the nickel costs $0.10 to make.

 

Can you imagine the amount of metal scrap that would result if 350,000,000 Americans dumped all their pennies on the Federal Reserve in one week?  The value of the recovered metal would go a long way to helping the national debt.

 

It would be an interesting thing to imagine, considering there are only 315 million people living in America.  Practically speaking though, I suspect I probably have more pennies in my possession than most people, and I have all of 35 of them.  To a debt of $16 trillion, $110 million might not even be a drop in the bucket.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

"What is an ocean but a collection if drops?" They could make nickels cheaper by replacing copper with iron. --Ocram

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Every little government expense cut, however small, is a victory.  It is always worth getting rid some something.  Who knows, you start a little thing like that and it might just kick off an avalanche of getting rid of useless things.

 

@hym: are you really as depressed as you sound?  You should take a week or so off.

[Duke87 1,070]

The cost savings from eliminating pennies aren't just from producing them. If businesses no longer have to handle pennies it saves them money, too, which thus helps the economy.

 

Of course, Americans remain convinced that eliminating pennies means that things can only be charged for in 5 cent increments - if that were actually the case, then businesses would be hurt by losing 4 cents on every $4.99 item that suddenly became a $4.95 item.

[Bdub01 201]

Of course, Americans remain convinced that eliminating pennies means that things can only be charged for in 5 cent increments - if that were actually the case, then businesses would be hurt by losing 4 cents on every $4.99 item that suddenly became a $4.95 item.

Chances are though the $4.99 it end up $5.00.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

^ in fact that would be the case.  We are using the Swedish rounding system.  Amounts of one or two cents round down, the rest round up.  Comes out in the wash.  Besides $4.99 is artificial anyway.  Jumping to $5.00 is a slight price increase. 

 

The rule is that the rounding takes place after all calculations are complete including taxes.  If you pay by electronic means you get the pennies charged to your account in the usual way.  This should help to promote the cashless society which can result in a considerable economic saving all around.