The Canadian penny will cease production as of this fall, but you won't find local businesses and collectors shedding any tears over its end.
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled his latest budget in Ottawa this week and among the many proposed changes to department budgets and pensions came a long-recommended decision on Canada's one-cent coin.
"Pennies take up too much space on our dressers at home," Flaherty said in the House of Commons, and waste the time of small business owners. They also cost a penny-and-a-half apiece to make.
"We will, therefore, stop making them," he said.
The budget proposes to stop the distribution of new pennies as of this fall – a move projected to save Canada about $11 million a year. Pennies will still retain their value and be accepted as currency.
But this won't necessarily mean an end to all those $0.99 price tags in the store. Businesses will be asked to round the final total of any purchase after taxes to the nearest nickel, and only if the customer pays cash. Credit, debit and cheque payments will still go to the nearest cent.
John Smith, co-owner of St. Albert's Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, said he welcomed the change, despite the fact that almost every price in his store ends with a nine.
"It's certainly doable, and it would certainly save me wear and tear on my pocket," he said.
Later, penny
Canada has had one-cent coins since 1858, according to the Royal Canadian Mint. Since 1937, each penny has featured the same two-leafs-on-a-twig design made by artist G.E. Kruger-Gray, with the exception of 1967, when it had a dove on it to mark Canada's centennial.
Pennies have also slimmed down. A 1908 penny is about 25 millimetres in diameter, weighs about six grams and is 95 per cent copper. A modern one is 19 millimetres, weighs two grams and is 94 per cent steel.
Ron Thompson, a St. Albert coin-collector and owner of Canada Coin and Paper Money, said there hasn't been any point in making pennies for years.
"They have no purchasing power," he said, and are now more steel than copper.
"You ever sat and rolled pennies for three hours on your kitchen table? It's not even worth your time," he said.
In getting rid of its penny, Canada is following the lead of Australia, New Zealand, Norway and others, according to the federal government, which has recommended people give their pennies to local charities.
The mint has previously removed 50-cent coins and two-dollar bills from circulation, Thompson noted, and recently switched from paper to polymer bills.
"I think even the nickel is in question," he said.
The mint could always strike small numbers of pennies for collectors, he added.
Smith said he usually doesn't get many pennies from the bank, and that his customers make regular use of the "take a penny, leave a penny" jar by the till.
"There's a lot of people who just don't bother with pennies anymore," he said.
The mint struck 486 million pennies in 2010.
