According to a news report this week, the Canadian government has been considering the elimination of the lowly penny. The article says that only one-third of Canadians regularly use the penny.
What the heck are the other 2/3 doing?
I mean, I know use of a debit card has probably widely surpassed the use of actual cash in most transaction. I only ever carry about $20 at a time myself. But everybody has to be using cash at least some of the time. Think about this: Tim Horton’s sells 76% of Canada’s coffee and baked goods (source) and they don’t take debit — how can only one-third of Canadians be using cash?
Mmmm, doughnuts…
Anyway, I’m not sure I’m on board with this idea of dropping the penny. I’m sure that there are far more pennies held hostage in jars, piggy banks and change trays across the country than are actually exchanged in commerce on a given day, but just because something doesn’t work as well as it used to doesn’t mean we should simply get rid of it. Heck, we still keep William Shatner around, don’t we?
My boys are still at that tender age when they believe me when I lie to them, and the sticky-fingered little monkeys like to filch coins off the dressers and countertops where Beloved and I dump them from our pockets. So far, it’s been an easy sell to tell them they’re only allowed to take the shiny, copper-coloured “pirate coins”, which are of course far more valuable than those bulky one- and two- dollar coins. Tristan, bless his clever little heart, has only in the past month or so figured out what a quarter is and that it is infinitely more valuable than the other coins because that’s what fits in all the candy machines. (Sheesh, that’s 2500% inflation since I was a kid – I still remember penny gumballs!)
What do you think? Is there a better use for the $130M the government spends each year keeping the penny in circulation? Or are you a traditionalist who thinks we need to keep the penny alive, at least so we can use it in wishing wells and fountains throughout the country?
(Edited to add: the title of this post was edited to reflect the brilliant comment by Trixie. I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of it myself first!)
Oh, and I was SO sure you were going to wrap up by asking “Penny for your thoughts?” Could taste it coming. Or maybe that was imaginary aftertaste from the doughnut reference… yummmmmm.
Anyways, I say scrap it. Given that penny candy and “one a penny, two a penny hot cross buns” are a thing of the past, it seems the coin is around simply for sales tax. I’m sure someone out there is calculating how much the penny round-up will cost the average consumer who won’t be paying $4.99 for socks anymore, but it’s got to be a smart decision overall.
Besides, I think inflation dictates that a fountain wish costs a quarter these days…
The main thing I’m using pennies for these days is the fountain – I had totally forgotten the ramifications of inflation on the wishing pond – darn it. Mind you the kids end up dumping about 25 cents worth every time anyway.
So I’m all for scrapping it now.
i’m lucky… the tim horton’s around here take debit… 🙂
The only time I use pennies is in a desperate attempt to get rid of some of the bulk they have created in my change purse. Tim Hortons is one of the few places I do still use cash, and I’m getting more and more tempted by the Mastercard quick-pay option.
They seem to have been talking about getting rid of the penny for as long as I can remember. I think it’s probably a good idea, but we’ll see if/when it actually happens.
I find myself on the “goodbye penny” side as well. I always hated seeing .99 prices (just say its a dollar already), and those things just gathered dust in my change jar anyhow. It is goodbye to an era and I am sure I will get a bit nostalgic, but only for as long as it takes for me to clean them out of the creases of my car seats. Then I am done with ’em.
I’m not sure. I mean even though I almost never use cash, with the exception of my beloved dollar store shopping sprees, I still can’t imagine not having a penny.
But I’m a little confused. Are they talking about just not making any more? (In which case they’d still be around for years anyway) or doing some sort of grabback?
I don’t know. I don’t have any great love for the penny but it concerns me that credit cards are becoming so comfortable to use – although I’m not sure how much the penny itself contributes to that.
But yeah, my kids are still thrilled to get a handful. Although Cass has mentioned that the two-colored bigger ones are so pretty…
I dunno why, honestly, but I say keep the penny.
Seriously, I don’t know why I feel that way. LOL
When I traveled in Australia in 1993 they didn’t have the penny – and I barely noticed. Things were still priced exactly the same (3.99, 4.49, etc.), and your bill included the cost right down to the cent, but then it rounded off for giving/getting cash. 1 & 2 cents went down to 0, 3 & 4 cents went up to 5. No one cared; we all assumed it evened out in the end. They also had really cool bills made of this plastic type stuff that you could not rip…we tried….
I am all for getting rid of it…my kids can survive on nickels….of course, I am worried about one thing….what are we going to dissolve in Coke for a neat science experiment?
We use it in fountains and piggy banks a lot these days. Otherwise it really isn’t of much use. I would miss all those “need a penny” bowls by every cash register.
BTW, I just saw your comment at SJ. It was somewhat similar to the two comments I left. It seems we’re on the same page.
Yep – we need those pennies for the wishing wells – at least. Keep um – and I loved the William Shatner reference (HA!!) – See Ya!
Um. I sometimes throw them out. When my wallet is too weighed down by them, I actually throw them away. I think this is actually illigal so maybe I shouldn’t be saying this. Of course, we also throw them in to fountains when my son wants to make a ‘wish’. Other then that… um… I guess they’re pretty useless! And dirty! It would be weird to get rid of them, though.
I’m still nostalgic for $1 and $2 dollar bills, and sorry that my kids won’t get to use them. (I have kept a couple to show them.) I hope we keep pennies for a few more years.
Now that the Canadian dollar is par with the American dollar, those pennies are worth quite a bit more than they were a few years ago! Wheeee!
I think the penny should stay… pennies can be used for so much. They have a value … and for some people it’s an important one.
I have been attached to the penny since grade school, when my school decide to do a project called ‘Pennies for cancer’ – our goal was to raise 1 million pennies and donate it for cancer research. It was a huge undertaking for a school in a small town of only 1400 people (Thessalon, ON), but we did it – local businesses chipped in … everyone from the community and each week we had a penny pouring ceremony where each grade would calculate their totals and pour their pennies into a bathtub in front of the entire school – I still remember reaching the million – it was huge! It was really great project to be apart of, and one I will never forget. Without the penny, that project would have been down the tubes!!
Then what happens to “penny candy”, or “a penny for your thoughts”??
Say it ain’t so.
Ditch the penny!
They ought to have a yearly national Pennies For — day. Let the schools pick a cause and everyone could bring their jars of pennies in. That way the pennies get returned to circulation and causes get money.
Hey Liz, that’s a good idea!!
Loukia, I can’t believe you actually throw pennies away. They’re still money, for goodness sake! I have a hard time *not* stopping to pick one up, even if it’s wet or dirty.
Here in Europe we have two “pennies”– the one Eurocent coin and the two Eurocent coin. Now who came up with *that* bright idea??? I guess there may be countries with different economies in which it actually makes sense, but still, it keeps my change purse filled with copper (not to mention the five cent coin, also copper) and it’s a pain to sort through it all when I actually want to use exact change.
I’ll tell you when the penny comes in handy: When you’ve been throwing them in a jar for who-knows-how-long, then you find yourself dirt poor after graduating university, and you aren’t starting your job for a few weeks. You realize that you are desperately in need of somthing. You roll all the pennies to find that you have $19 whole dollars, which won’t afford you that thing you need, but you can at least buy a few drinks to make yourself feel better. Keep the penny!