A penny saved is a penny spurned.
Finance Minister of Canada Jim Flaherty became currency executioner on March 29 when he announced, as part of the 2012 federal budget, that the Royal Canadian Mint would stop distributing pennies. It was costing about 1.6 cents to mint each copper coin, and there are currently about 30 billion pennies in circulation in Canada – so don’t expect them to vanish overnight. The move to eliminate the one-cent coin was widely supported by local business-owners.
“The penny should have probably been gone a long time ago, it’s more of a pain for us,” said Win McCauley, co-owner of Norm’s Stop & Go in Irricana.
McCauley said when she trains new staff at her gas station, she instructs them to give customers back a full nickel rather than four pennies, and has been doing so for years.
“Norm and I, we don’t give pennies, we don’t take pennies, if you really want your penny back there’s a jar full of them on the counter,” she said.
The plan, according to the 2012 budget, is to keep cheque, debit, and credit card payments calculated to the penny, but to round cash payments (after adding sales tax) to the nearest nickel, if pennies aren’t available for change.
“I don’t use cash in my business, so it’s not going to affect me at all,” said Mike De Bokx, president of the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce.
De Bokx, who works as a mortgage professional at Dominion Lending Centres in Airdrie said while his industry likely won’t be influenced at all by the penny’s demise, other small businesses and charities could be hurt by it.
Working in the banking industry for close to 20 years, De Bokx said he was there for the elimination of the one and two dollar bill, and said Canadians are likely eager get the penny out of circulation as quickly as possible.
Canada is not alone in axing the penny. Australia and New Zealand got rid of their one-cent coins more than 15 years ago and are currently looking at getting rid of their five-cent coins. The Consumers Association of Canada has been pushing for the penny’s elimination for more than a decade and a Bank of Canada study concluded that getting rid of the one-cent coin would have no significant impact on inflation in the country.
“You round up, you round down, it’s been happening for quite awhile, whether people realize it or not,” said McCauley. She said there has been little use for pennies at her business for quite some time, other than as an imaginary prop in a game Norm plays with customers.
“He jokes with them, he’ll keep a tally of how many pennies they’re up or down, each week,” she said. McCauley said she keeps a penny stash at home, but not for any financial reasons.
“I keep them for my grandsons,” she said.
“I’ve got two jars, and when they come over, they scoop them up with their toy bulldozers.”
