On May 4, 2012, the final Canadian penny was struck at the Canadian Mint in Winnipeg. Since 1908 when Canada began to mint its own currency in Ottawa, over 35 billion one-cent pieces have been struck.
That鈥檚 over 100,000 tons of pennies - more than 200 million pounds - of the metal alloy coin pumped into circulation in the past 105 years. Stretched out side-by-side, those pennies would circle the earth 16 times, or stack to a height of 52,600 kms into the sky.
On Feb. 4, 2013, the Canadian Mint will cease to add to that total.
The penny has cost a lot more than it鈥檚 worth for quite a while. The federal government estimates that it will save over $11 million dollars per year by not processing or handling the penny. Not only does it cost 1.6 cents per penny to produce, but the coin is constantly taken out of circulation because people don鈥檛 want to carry them around.
Instead of minting more pennies to keep them in circulation, the government of Canada, in its 2012 Economic Action Plan, announced that it would phase out the penny.
The one-cent denomination will remain active for all but cash transactions. Where cash is exchanged, the final, after-tax amount will be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel. For electronic transactions, or for cheque writing, the one cent amount will remain active and no rounding will occur. It will be up to the retailer to perform the rounding calculation, and only an honour system will ensure that retailers round down or up appropriately.
After Feb. 4, 2013, businesses may begin to refuse to accept the penny for cash transactions and final cash sale amount. Banks will always accept your pennies, although individual retailers may or may not accept the penny after Feb. 4 at their own discretion. If you don鈥檛 want to ever handle your pennies again, you can roll them up and redeem them at any bank. Charities will welcome your unwanted pennies, but you should call first and find out if they prefer them rolled or loose.
In 亚洲天堂 Lake, the Rotary Interact Club at Lakes District Secondary School has been collecting pennies since early December 2012. Their project is to provide fresh drinking water through the We Create Change program.
The interact club doesn鈥檛 need you to roll your pennies. You can drop them into jars around town or at banks. They are using plastic bags marked with a $25 line so they don鈥檛 have to roll thousands of pennies. That cuts down on the inconvenience for those who want to do something good for others while getting rid of a lot of pennies at once without much hassle.
