You are here
Many welcome departure of Canada's pesky penny
By Tony Lofaro
Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa/Many+welcome+departure+pesky+pe...
OTTAWA -- The penny is on the way out, and that's good news for people tired of dealing with the nuisance coin.
The Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing pennies Monday after more than 150 years of production. But it was Finance Minister Jim Flaherty who announced the penny's demise about a year ago, saying the cost of manufacturing a coin was actually 1.6 cents.
Some bank managers are welcoming the disappearance of the pesky coin from circulation.
"I'm not sad to see the penny go. I've been waiting for it to go for years," said Dominique Vallière, a branch manager at TD Canada Trust at Billings Bridge Plaza.
... Dispatch continues below ...
Get the real story about the precious metals
from the Sprott Precious Metals Round Table
Now you don't have to travel to attend a financial conference to hear Sprott Asset Management's precious metals experts -- Eric Sprott, Rick Rule, and John Embry. They'll be holding a round-table discussion via the Internet at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, February 12, and you can be part of it. Among their topics:
-- Why are precious metals such a compelling investment opportunity?
-- Why are non-G7 central banks buying gold? Do Western central banks have any left?
-- Why are investors buying as much silver as gold in dollar terms? What does this mean for the price of silver?
-- Is the growing supply deficit of platinum and palladium going to push their prices higher?
To register for this Internet conference and participate from the comfort of your own home or office, please visit:
http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=579230&s=1&k=70B829852A33CD255CC2A43ED63D18D0
She said it became too cumbersome to roll up pennies brought in by customers. On the weekend more than a dozen customers brought in their pennies, figuring the currency was no longer legal tender, she said. In fact, the penny is still legal and will be for some time, she added.
She said an in-branch display of a big jar of pennies is "to make people aware" that the penny is still with us. But at banks, retail stores and other businesses where cash transactions occur, the landscape is changing.
Across the country now big and small merchants are beginning to round cash transactions to the nearest five-cent increment. For example, a $1.02 transaction would round down to $1, but a purchase of $1.03 would round up to $1.05.
The owner of the International News store at Billings Bridge Plaza said he started phasing in the new system a few weeks ago to familiarize customers.
So far customers are understanding and he hasn't had any problems with the system, said the owner. He said he doesn't mind saying goodbye to the penny, adding it's a "hassle" adjusting the cash register to the new rounding system.
A Starbucks spokeswoman said its outlets will continue to distribute pennies when cash is owed to customers.
"When the pennies are not available on cash owed, we will round up or down using the government recommended guideline," said public affairs spokeswoman Louisa Girotti.
Home Depot stores are rounding down to the nearest nickel on cash purchases by customers.
"It's going to be automatic at the point-of-sale machines and self-checkouts and it will be a very easy and smooth transition," said spokeswoman Erika Botond.
She said the "rounding down" is the right thing to do and fairer for customers, and the feedback from store owners so far is that it's been a positive experience. She said customers will see a new line item on their bill showing what they saved under the new system.
Ilse Mitchell remembers saving "German pennies" when she was a young girl.
"I had a big metal box and once a week my father would take me to the bank with the money I had saved during the week," said Mitchell, sipping a coffee at Billings Bridge Plaza. "That's how I learned to save and I still do it."
Mitchell said she learned the value of money as a young girl and it is important to instil that in young people today.
"I still will pick up a penny if I see one on the floor," she said, adding that most people wouldn't bother.
She said she feels nostalgic about the demise of the penny in today's cashless society.
"I will keep a few pennies in an old wallet because I know today is the last day" for distribution, she said.
* * *
Join GATA here:
California Resource Investment Conference
Saturday-Sunday, February 23-24, 2013
Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort and Spa
Palm Desert, California
http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/california-resource-investment-confe...
* * *
Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006:
http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html
Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:
Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:
http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal
Help keep GATA going
GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:
To contribute to GATA, please visit:
Opinion Around the World Is Changing
in Favor of Gold -- Find Out Why
When Deutschebank calls gold "good money" and paper "bad money". ...
http://www.gata.org/node/11765
When the president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, pays tribute to gold as "a timeless classic". ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/09/24/signs-of-the-gold-stan...
When a leading member of the policy committee of the People's Bank of China calls the gold standard "an excellent monetary system". ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/10/01/signs-of-the-gold-stan...
When a CNN reporter writes in The China Post that the "gold commission" plank in the 2012 Republican platform will "reverberate around the world". ...
http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/1563-china-post-the-gop-gold...
When the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives twice called on economist, historian, and gold standard advocate Lewis E. Lehrman to testify. ...
World opinion is changing in favor of gold.
How can you learn why and what it will mean to you?
Read the newly updated and expanded edition of Lehrman's book, "The True Gold Standard."
Financial journalist James Grant says of "The True Gold Standard": "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman she has finally found him."
To buy a copy of "The True Gold Standard," please visit:
http://www.thegoldstandardnow.com/publications/the-true-gold-standard
